I find it strange America celebrates Columbus Day but the Dominican Republic doesn't seem to observe it as much (though Santo Domingo, the capital and being cool enough to be the oldest surviving city of the New World, does have a park dedicated to him). I was talking to my mother about this and the obvious reasons were that Columbus and the Spaniards weren't exactly Mother Teresa and the missionaries of charity (oh wait I used this comparison before). Yet still, despite the genocide of the aboriginal natives and horrible mistreatment of the enslaved Africans, there is a complicated love/hate relationship between the former Spanish colonies of the New World and the sometimes termed "mother country" remains, even if just because we're literally blood family (whether in recent or distant ancestry), speak Spanish, and are overwhelmingly Catholic. Our African heritage is pretty strong, notably found in our music and dance (and sometimes in offshoots of syncretized religion). The aboriginal heritage (at least in my ignorance), to be honest, has a negligible presence other than some folklore and names of crops and places because of how early in the conquering period they were killed off (though there is debate about there being some part[s] of the country having significant traceable Taino ancestry).
With other parts of Latin America, it's more or less the opposite, i.e. there is more visible aboriginal ancestry than African. I read an article (it's in Spanish but you may get a rough translation if you plug it into Google translate) about Latin American countries and their pro/anti-Spain attitudes and it seemed parts of Central America and countries with more indigenous ancestry ranked as the least pro-"Españolistas" while countries like Colombia and the D.R. (with significant African ancestry mixed in) ranked as the most pro-"Españolistas", which may be due to the fact that the indigenous cultures that survived in other countries were able to maintain their pre-hispanic/pre-Columbian culture better.
Anyways, I could go on about the history of the European settlement of the New World and all the different mixing and warfare of cultures that came into contact but that is easily look-upable on Google (translation: I'm too lazy to construct a well formed and heavy source supported essay about the politics, social, and religious life of this time even though colonial Latin America is my second favorite historical topic).
Instead, I shall post some songs about the ocean because I like the metaphor of exploration, adventure, and going into the unknown (well not in Columbus' case since he wasn't first! but you know what I mean).
Escrito con Sal y Brea (Written with Salt and Tar)
Coloniales y Ultramarinos (Colonials and Mariners) (two songs in 1 video, by Vainica Doble)
Coloniales y Ultramarinos (Colonials and Mariners) (two songs in 1 video, by Vainica Doble)
La Ballena Azul (The Blue Whale) (also by Vainica Doble)
Liz Phair - Dead Shark (from her indie girlysound days)
Madonna - La Isla Bonita (I don't really listen to Madonna, but my friend Zach is obsessed so this is for you Zach lmao)
Third Eye Blind - Water Landing (can't upload the one I got off Amazon since I'll get sued!)
I loved reading this...being in the Caribbean makes it so fascinating to compare the life I am observing here with the life on other islands. It seems Columbus dod much everwhere here, because the three peaks in the middle of the island were discovered by Columbus and I think helped give the island it's name...though there's little Spanish influence left, except parang at Christmastime, which should be an interesting new experience...Blessings always, Ray!
ReplyDelete