Credits

About wouragate: In the Garifuna language, the term wóuragate refers to "memory", "our history".
Thanks to Cesar Sabio Vargas for his help in choosing this term.

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About the banner picture: Wereldmuseum Leiden, RV-360-5139d, Gerrit Schouten (1779-1839), "Diorama of an Arawak village", Suriname, 1827, 52 x 79,5 x 23,5 cm, https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/604831CC0 1.0

This diorama, made by the Creole painter Gerrit Schouten (1779-1839), provides an excellent picture of the life in an kali'na settlement. In order to get the right perspective, the viewer has to look inside slightly below the center of the scene.
In the left-dwelling people are dancing to the music of bamboo flutes. At the left front, the woman sitting on a bench is busy sieving pressed cassava over a cauldron. She makes cassiri, an alcoholic beverage that is consumed at parties. The middle woman in the right area of the dwelling weaves a loincloth (kwejoe) of beads. The man in the red coat behind her is probably a captain. The colonial government appointed these people as administrator of a village. Between the two houses a man is engaged making fire with a so-called fire drill. The closed cabin between the houses is a gado-oso, a religious structure. 

Schouten Diorama 1827_1

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