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Surinam Maroons
Art and Culture
"This prayer is good. This prayer makes children grow, makes them get big. Just the way the night and the day are fertile. God created them to make things grow, to make the earth fruitful. That's what this prayer says. That's what it’s about."
Introduction to prayer in sacred language offered by Gaama Songo Aboikoni, paramount leader of the Saramaka Maroons.
The Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, Washington, D.C., 1992 |
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The Surinam Maroons are the descendents of runaway slaves, who where never captured by the Dutch Colonialists. Hidden away deep in the amazon rain forests of Surinam, South America, they still live as they did hundreds of years ago on the West coast of Africa.
Because of little contact with the outside world the African culture is still very well preserved, in many ways even more than in Africa. |
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| They where made up from many different tribes. Within a short time created a new culture with it's own religion, artistic expression and language: Sranan Tongo. |
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| The three levels of existence in concentric circles |
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Inner circle = akaa (essential spirit)
Middle circle = nenseki (ancestral soul in process of reincarnation)
Outer circle = person in the life-cycle
The upper half of the circle represents the visible world, into which people are born and out of which they die.
The lower half of the circle represents the invisible world, inhabited by ancestors and spirits.
The two worlds co-exist but only bono or loekoe-man (ritual specialists and medium) usually see and interact with the invisible world. |
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| According to Ndjuka and Aluku Maroons, human beings have an akaa (unchanging essential spirit), a Soul, and a body.
A person is born from the invisible world of the ancestors,grows from childhood into adulthood in the visible world of the living, grows old, dies, and returns to the status of ancestor. When a person has lived a good life, his or her soul returns to the visible world after death as a newborn. This process is known as nenseki (reincarnation). |
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Art by Francky Amete and other Maroon Artists
This traditional work is full of ancient symbolism known only by the tribe's people. These bright colored pattern paintings can also be seen on the houses and handmade fabrics of the Maroon people. |
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| N'djuka wooden shrine near Marowijne River, Ampoma Tapu |
N'djuka Maroon man in front of painted home, wearing traditional dress |
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| Saramaka Maroon man with rattle and drums used in ritual ceremonies. |
Saramaka Maroons taking part in a ponsu, a community fishing event they learned from local indians. Fish are drugged with herbs to make them easier to catch. |
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Photographs by Thomas Polimé and Diana Baird N’Diaye and Bart Kamphuis More info: maroon tour - surinam.net |
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