Barbados and Saint Lucia

Barbados and Saint Lucia
Grades 4+

Barbados

It is Kadooment Day, the final day of the Crop Over Carnival, in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, an island on the eastern edge of the Caribbean. With August’s sun beating down hard, the city is alive with celebration.

A band of five girls has prepared for this day for weeks. First, is the costume. They wear a blue and white two-piece with a beaded headpiece and a yellow feathered tail. They spent a lot of time crafting their hairstyle and applying their makeup. They make sure that the shimmering yellow beads in their cornrows glint in the sunlight.

The sound of steel drums and brass instruments brings a rising fanfare. Parade time! Time to let loose, to jump and dance. The girls join the hundreds of people cavorting in the streets.

This harvest carnival is a tradition that dates back to the days of slavery, when slaves in sugarcane plantations celebrated the end of the harvest. They would dance, sing, and feast on the fruits of their labor.

Today, the Crop Over Carnival is still a big event in Barbados. It is a time for people to come together and celebrate their culture and heritage. The air is thick with a nice spicy and savory aroma. It’s the smell of “coucou and flying fish,” the national dish of Barbados. With a consistency similar to that of grits, coucou is a cornmeal and okra-based dish. But the star of the plate is of course the flying fish. You can see the locals cooking it over an open fire, the flames licking at the fish filets as they turn a crispy golden brown.

Rihanna herself usually comes to Barbados to attend the celebrations. Yes, “Riri” is Barbadian. She sometimes performs at the finale, putting on a great show for her fans. The mega-star is known for her colorful and unique looks with bold and daring clothing. This is where her iconic style was born. She embraced the local sense of fashion and made it her own.

Individual or Small-Group Activity

What is the likely age of the audience for the above essay? What is the secondmost likely age? What information in the essay helped you arrive at that decision?

6-10

11-18

19-30

31-40

41-50

51-70

70+

St. Lucia

We are on the top of Gros Piton, meaning “big peak.” It’s a magnificent 2600 ft spire that towers over the coast of Saint Lucia, an island about a hundred miles west of Barbados. The Caribbean Sea looks like a beautiful blue gem. From this vantage point, the entire island lays out in a 27-mile stretch of lush green hills and valleys. Small fishing villages follow one another along the shore, their thatched roofs and brightly colored homes a picture of the quaint.

Winding paths and a winding road lead up to the mountains. To the left and jutting out from the sea is the Petit Piton. At 2400 feet, it’s smaller, steeper, and more dangerous than its sibling, the Gros Piton.

Born 300,000 years ago, the twin peaks are “volcanic plugs” formed when lava hardened within the throat of a volcano and blocked the flow of magma. Then the lava cooled and contracted into a “plug” of rock that protruded like a fang from the surface of the ancient volcano.

Nearer to the Petit Piton are sulphur springs. They look like a barren spot in an otherwise lush landscape. The area feels both foreboding and inviting. The dense forest surrounding the springs lend the area a mysterious, almost mystical quality. Dubbed the world’s only “drive-in volcano,” they look nothing like the usual image of a volcano. The site is covered with rocks, with bubbling mud oozing out of the cracks.

If you get close to the plumes of steam rising into the air, prepare your nostrils for sulfur stench.

Some people say it’s the stench of a million rotten eggs exploding all at once; such people often hide in tourist busses with the windows up. Most people say the odor is tolerable, and they take mud baths. The mud isn’t like the thick goo you may have played with as a child. Rather, it’s a slippery mixture of sulphur-laden mud and water. People have a great time splashing each other or lying back in the warmth … a warmth that physicians say is excellent for both body and spirit.