nPostednon August 30, 2015
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Atnthis time of the year, the Caribbean island of St. Lucia has annunusual sort of rivalry: flower society versus flower society!
Atnthis time of the year, the Caribbean island of St. Lucia has annunusual sort of rivalry: flower society versus flower society!n
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nTherenare two rival societies, La Rose and Les Marguerite.nThe first, as you can imagine, celebrates the rose; the latter honorsnthe daisy. Since the most commonly spoken language in St. Lucia isnSt. Lucian Creole (a blending of mostly French words with Africanngrammar), I should tell you the name of the two societies in thatnlanguage: La Woz is “The Rose,” and La Magwit isn“The Marguerite Daisy.” n
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nEachngroup has weekly meetings, and each has a female singer called anChantwelle. And each Chantwelle has to compose Belairs, which arentunes sung in Creole, that praise her own society and teasinglyn“insults” the other!
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nOfncourse the Chantwelles perform their Belairs at those weeklynmeetings, in song and dance, and people play along with sax, violin,nbanjo, or other instruments. Generally all the flower society membersnjoin in singing the choruses. The society members play games at thesenmeetings.
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LanRose has its festival today – Les Marguerite hold one in October –nand there are religious services, parades, feasting, a royal court,nand of course a whole lot more singing and dancing.
LanRose has its festival today – Les Marguerite hold one in October –nand there are religious services, parades, feasting, a royal court,nand of course a whole lot more singing and dancing.n
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nAnrose of any other color…
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nIt’sninteresting to me that we have a very clear idea of what rose-colorednglasses, rosy cheeks, and the color “rose” all refer to: pink!
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nButnnot all roses are pink!
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nAlsonon this date:
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nInternationalnWhale Shark Day
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nOceanographernSylvia Earle’s birthday
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nNationalnToasted Marshmallow Day
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nFrankenstein authornMary Shelley’s birthday
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nPlannahead:
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Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nAugustn holidays
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nAugustn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in August
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nSeptembern holidays
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nSeptembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in September
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