Culture of Saint Lucia

TheCulture ofSaint Luciablends the influences of African, French, and English heritage. The official language of the island is English but Kwéyòl (French Creole), remains an influential secondary language with an English Creole also spoken as well. The people are predominantlyCatholicbut the religious climate is tolerant.
Saint Lucia holds every year two main traditional festivals,La Woz("The Rose", on August 30) andLa Magwit("The Marguerite", on October 17), organized by the two rivalhistoric cultural associations(societés) with the same names whose affiliates comprise most of the country's population.
TheChristmasseason is celebrated and a number of small festivals and parades take place throughout the island.
Saint Lucia also celebrates a cultural festival known as Creole Day (Jounen Kwéyòl). This is celebrated each year on the last Sunday of October. On the Sunday of this week, the various towns chosen to host this festival  put out the result of their grand preparations; local foods and drinks such as breadfruit,green fig, plantain, salt fish, king fish, manicou (opossum), roast pork, Johnny Cake (fried bake) and a famous dish, bouyon (fish, chicken or meat stewed withdasheen, yams, plantains, banana and dumplings), lime drinks, guava drinks and more. Most people commemorate this day by wearing the island's national wear known as theMadras. Persons who do not want to wear the extreme layers of skirts and dresses make clothing out of the special plaid material.
Secular observances include an internationally renownedJazz Festival. Beginning in 1991, this annual festival draws crowds of music-lovers from around the world.
Themusical culture of Saint Luciaincludes an indigenous folk music tradition, as well as other Caribbean music genres such as Calypso,soca,zoukandreggae. Saint Lucia produces very high quantities of zouk music. ModernSaint Luciatoday has produced artists/producers such asMecca,Teddyson John, Ricky T, Claudia Edwards, Shemmy J just to name a few.
St Lucia's national dish is green banana (also called green fig) and saltfish.
The island's cuisine is a blend of West African, European (mainly British and French) and East Indian cuisine. This creates dishes such asmacaroni pie, stew chicken,rice and peas, hearty fish broths or fish water, and heartysoupspacked with fresh locally produced vegetables. St Lucian cuisine is similar to many otherCommonwealth Caribbeannations such as Dominica, Jamaica, neighboring St Vincent and Trinidad. Typical essential foodstuffs arepotatoes,onions,celery,thyme,coconut milk, the very hotscotch bonnet peppers, flour and cornmeal. All mainstream meat and poultry are eaten in St Lucia. Meat and seafood are normally stewed and browned to create a rich gravy sometimes served overground provisionsor rice.
Due to influences from the island's smallIndo-Caribbeanpopulation, curry is very popular. However, due to the blend of cooking styles, curry dishes have a Caribbean twist. In recent years,roti, a flatbread of Indian origin, has become very popular, being imported from the twin island nation ofTrinidad and Tobagoto the south. This bread is typically served as a fast food snack. The bread itself is very flat (sometimes very thin) and is wrapped around curried vegetables such as chickpeas, potatoes, or meat.
Derek Walcottis the most prominent St. Lucian writer, Nobel Prize winner in 1992.
Dr The HonourableBongskie Agno, renowned St. Lucian artist, was knighted in the 2009/2010 New Year's honours list, for his services to art. The investiture ceremony was held on 9 April 2010, at Government House where the Governor General on the advice of Her Majesty the Queen, invested Sir Dunstan St. Omer with the Insignia of a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG). The UK Telegraph has described him as “the Michelangelo of the Caribbean”. Designer of the St Lucian flag. In 2007 the Folk Research Centre declared him a National Cultural Hero. Born in Castries, on October 24, 1927. Died, aged 87, on May 5, 2015.
Traditionally, in common with other Caribbean countries, Saint Lucia held acarnivalbeforeLent. In 1999, it was moved to mid-July so as not to clash with the much largerTrinidad and Tobago carnival, and in effort to attract more overseas visitors. It is a two-day festival where people walk about two miles. Before carnival, there is a competition among women in the country to find the queen of carnival.
Another popular sport in Saint Lucia is Football. Football played all over the island as well as cricket.Darren Sammyis the former captain of thewest IndiesCricketteam. St.Lucia is home to 2024 Olympic 100m gold medalist and 200m silver medalist Julien Alfred