On our horseback ride through a banana farm we kept hearing what sounded like gun shots. We asked our guide Spencer what people were hunting. He said they weren't gun shots, they were bamboo tubes.
Hunh?
He asked if we wanted to see them. Sure!
So we rode around to the local elementary school. The kids were fascinated by our horses but we were invited into the school grounds to see the "celebration."
This would NEVER happen in the States! A group of what looked to be nine- or ten-year-olds, with adults nearby but not hovering over them, were pouring tiny amounts of kerosene into bamboo tubes, lighting firesticks from bottles of kerosene with rags stuffed in them (essentially Molotov cocktails) and lighting the kerosene in the bamboo. The kerosene ignited with a loud cannon-like BOOM. This was what we heard from the other side of the valley.
These bamboo "cannons" are common at celebrations here in St. Lucia. People use them at times like we use fireworks - Christmas, New Year's or in this case Jounen Kwéyòl or Creole Day. (More about Jounen Kwéyòl coming soon.)
We were fascinated. One little boy watched us watch the boys light the "cannons." Elaine said to him, "we've never seen this before." The boy looked incredulous. "You've never seen this before?" he asked. "Nope." He shook his head sadly, apparently wondering at the woeful ignorance of the old white people.
We asked another youngster if anyone ever got hurt. He looked surprised at the question and said, "No."
Many of the schools celebrate Jounen Kwéyòl on Friday. The official island-wide celebration is on the last Sunday of October each year.
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