Friendly People, Fighters and Cannibals

Bonjou! Kouman ou ye? Mwen byen mesi. That means “Hello! How are you? I am well thank you.

Well, since it’s Saint Lucia’s 30^th Anniversary of their Independence from Great Britain, I thought I would start to tell you a little bit about their history. A lot of children came to the Micoud Library to learn about Saint Lucia. The picture is of some of the students. They wear uniforms to school. Even students in the community college wear uniforms! They call Karen "Miss". This is to show respect. The teacher in the picture is also called "Miss".

So let me tell you a very exciting story.

Hundreds of years ago the first known people on this island were the Arawaks. They were very peaceful people. This fished and hunted and also farmed the land. Did you know they had flat heads? When a baby was born they tied two boards on the baby’s head; one in front and one in back. After awhile they took them off and the baby's head was flattened. They thought that was beautiful. I wanted to laugh when I heard that, but I had to remember how bad I felt when people looked at me for being flat, so I didn’t.

Anyway, they were living a good life on a very beautiful island when another tribe came from Venezuela. They were called the Caribs. They thought the island was beautiful and they wanted it. They were very different from the Arawaks. They were fierce fighters. They killed all the Arawak men. They took the women and children and made them slaves! But, there’s more. Do you know what they did with the Arawak men? They ate them!!! But don't worry about me 3D Erika, they aren't around anymore, so I won't be on anyone's dinner plate while I'm here!

Then the French discovered the island and they decided they wanted this paradise for themselves. So they fought the Caribs. The Caribs won three times, but the forth time they lost and now the island belonged to the French!

Karen said her village was a place where many of the Caribs and Arawaks lived and they found pottery and other things right near her house! These things were made hundreds of years ago.

Karen and I helped Egbert, the Micoud Village Librarian put up an exhibit to teach the children about history. Here I am next to the part that tells them about early Saint Lucian Life.

Next I'm going to tell you the next part of their story! It's about more fighting for the island and slavery!