1st National Bank Calendar 2010

CALENDAR 2010

A Tribute to Our Heritage 1st National Bank St. Lucia Limited P.0.Box 168 #21 Bridge Street Castries St. Lucia Tel: +758 455 7000 Fax: +758 453 1630 Email: manager@1stnationalbankslu.com Website: www.1stnationalbankonline.com

Produced by Orange Media Group Photography by Stephen Paul Special Thanks to Dr. Kentry Jn Pierre, Executive Director of the The Folk Research Centre, St. Lucia

Once Upon A time…

For 2010 1st National Bank has chosen a theme that goes back to our roots, as a nation of communities, built on the simple premise of family and the interconnectedness that binds us and gives us strength.

From the deep vestiges of our memories, we elicit images of a time gone too soon in many ways, when we learned to count in boxes, to evaluate risk while pitching marbles with our favourite marble to be protected at all costs, to compete at What I Mark or to share tasks with Koudmain. We came together to wash and build and prepare food.

We took simple rope and sticks and discarded wheels to make days of fun and friendship. 1st National Bank recognises that when the village was a family, and the nation a family of villages, there was a special sense of community and belonging that made tasks, chores, even hardship and tragedy, all that more bearable.

The 2010 calendar celebrates the best of what was with an eye to regaining that simple community spirit, not only because it serves the Bank’s Vision, but because the Bank’s Vision is…to serve.

We present these images and fascinating facts to draw us all closer to our transplanted cultural moments together, to remind of the ‘good ‘ole days’ and to invoke a commitment to ensuring that we continue to learn the lessons that life taught us then to make these the next good ‘ole days. Focus learned with your Katapol, the benefits of effort as often-painfully grated coconut yielded treats for the whole family and the value of saving and commerce learned across over a tray. These then are our memories of how so many of us learned the tenets of modern living, of thrift and reliability that serve us as your bankers and members of the extended village that we all belong to.

January Wawi

Wawi, a pit-and-pebble strategy game that originated in Africa over three millennia ago was born of the technique used to carry out mathematical calculations. Wawi rules have remained unchanged for centuries and have taught generations how to hone their mathematical skills. The game tests intellectual prowess and develops intuition and shrewdness among players and has been a staple in many communities with the elders teaching the youth and passing the tradition. Time spent together over the wawi board bonded generations and taught the social skills and respect that are today still so noticeable in many rural communities.

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01 january New Year’s Day 02 january New Year’s Day Holiday

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February Woulélaba

A local version of cricket that is most popular in rural communities. Woulélaba is a key aspect of socialization in the community. Excursions are organized so that one community visits another for a game, communities coming together to become a larger entity and people expanding their world over a fun game.

Around the game would be other activities such as betting, the sale of food and drinks and a dance at the end of the day. These are the things that made life simple and yet complex without the negative stresses so often seen today.

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28 March 2010

Holidays: 22 February Independence Day (31st Anniversary)

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March Koudmen

The community members or a group of friends lend a hand to do work. It is a form of cooperation in which rhythm and music is utilized to make the work enjoyable and, some say, easier. Food and drink are an essential aspect of koudmen.

Koudmen provides a viable option in difficult economic times and it further cemented the symbiotic relationship of the people and their community. This formed for many the first forms of cooperation that they would take into life in their business and personal dealings.

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fEBRUARY 2010

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April Gwajé koko Grating coconut looks easy; but you can lose your knuckles doing it. Usually, it was done using a homemade grater made by punching holes in a piece of tin nailed to a wooden frame. Milk extracted from grated coconut is used for many recipes especially in our well known bouillon and callalloo. Grating coconut was a tedious task, one passed to the family’s children as an initiator into sharing the cooking experience and many a younger sibling wanting to feel ’big’, was tricked into doing the work for the elder brother or sister.

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30 Holidays: 02 April 05 April 03 April Good Friday Easter Sunday Easter Monday Moon phase: new moon:

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May River Washing (Lésiv bò lawivyè) A lot of St Lucian women used to wash clothes by hand in the river, scrubbing and beating their laundry on big, smooth rocks in the river. This routine and time consuming, but important activity, gave women an opportunity to socialize, to bond and of course to gossip about the community’s goings-on. Before the marriage counselors and therapists of modern times, the river was where young wives learned the basics of maintaining a home, their family…and keeping a husband in line too.

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01 May Labour Day

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24 May Whit Monday

June Zwi Zwi is Creole for cricket; the insect, at night, produces a high pitched chirping sound by rubbing its front wings together.

But zwi is also a toy, made from flattened bottle caps and twine. Remember, before there was such a proliferation of toy shops, children made their own toys. Like many toys, the zwi was both for amusement as well as competition and the flat spinning bottle cap with its signature shrill whirring sound, could be used as a virtual weapon of war-play...kids used to compete by trying to cut the other’s twine or line.

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30 JULY 2010

Holidays: 03 june Corpus Christi

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July Kabouwé

A go-kart is a simple, little race car for children. It doesn’t go very fast, though.

When the village children made their own out of bits and pieces around the yard and raced downhill on the narrow roads, they called it a Kabouwé.

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JUNE 2010

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August Tikitòk

This was mainly a girl’s game and played throughout the country from town to small village; on school steps or in the streets...

Back in the good old days they played with stones or small coconuts and the spirit of healthy competition was an integral part. Some of the game’s inventions had their own names like “Under the Bridge” and “Eggs in the Basket”. Girls practiced their skills and the recognition awarded to the best players gave them a special place in their social group.

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September What I Mark

This game was played primarily at schools across the island during recreation and free classes after exams.

The object of the game is to have opponents guess what number you wrote as you hid the pencil or pen or marker under your palm while writing. No mere hit-or-miss guesswork here, there was a complex memory challenge to remember which numbers had been called and many became so adept that the rules had to evolve to add higher and higher levels of complexity. It was fun and a great teacher of probability, statistics and sequential algorithms... not that they knew that was what they were doing, to the kids, it was simply fun!

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AUGUST 2010

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October Tray Vending The practice of selling from trays is still common today and remains popular in both the rural and urban areas.

The tray was, to the children of the community, a place where indigenous favourites like tablet (sugar cake), Boules and Comfort (local sweets), golden apple in sauce, seewet jam and a host of affordable goodies could be bought. For many this was their first financial transaction and being old enough to purchase and count your change was a rite of passage to be proud of.

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November String Games

This game required memory more than anything else.

It was very popular with children and adults alike and was one of the most affordable past times. All you needed was a string or rope or sliver of cloth and a creative mind. The idea is to create shapes that are recognizable. Shapes were learned through inventiveness initially, then passed from sibling or parent down through the generations.

Here we see an older girl from the community teaching younger ones to make the shape of a crab back. There was also other favourite shapes like the tower and the diamond.

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December Home Decorating made from Scratch In days past, house-proud Lucians, particularly in rural areas where the early department stores were a long time coming, were adept at making their own decorations.

From curtains to intricate flowers of paper and dried material, the time spent creating unique decorations was time spent together where young and old could interact on a project and share pride in the final outcome. The homes, filled with the artistic clutter of a Victorian style decor, subsequently told stories of years of added and adapted decoration and refurbishment, and a cherished piece from a long-gone relative carried the extra sentiment of knowing it was a creation of their own hands.

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31 Holidays: 13 decemeber National day 25 decemeber Christmas Day

JANUARY 2011

27 December Christmas Holiday (Boxing Day) Moon phase: new moon:

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