Cultural Coherence

 

Music: Bahamian culture is a mixture of African, European, and other cultures. Junkanoo Carnival is a large contributor to the music of the Bahamas. This type of music happens on December 26 and New Year’s Day. This tradition was first celebrated by an African named John Canoe. These celebrations consist of costumes made of crepe paper and powerful rhythms beaten on goatskin drums accompanied by rich brass bands and shaking cow bells. Bahamian music also includes other Caribbean forms such as Calypso, Trinidadian Soca and Jamaican Reggae. However, over the last thirty years, Bahamian culture has been highly influenced by United States music cultures, such as hip hop music.

Language: The dominant language in the Bahamas is English. However, a vast majority of the population speaks Bahamian Dialect, which is a dialect of English intermediate between standard English and Bahamian Creole. From island to island, there may be some differences in the way some words are pronounced, but in general, all is the same. The next most spoken language is Haitian Creole, spoken by the 30,000 to 60,000 Haitian migrants residing in the Bahamas.

Religion: The population of the Bahamas is 95 percent Christian of different varieties, primarily Baptist, Anglican, and catholic. Smaller groups consist of Jews, Baha’is, Muslims, Hindus, and Rastafarians. There are more churches per capita than there is in any other country.

Education: As of 2003, the literacy rate was 95.5 percent. Of the 210 primary and secondary schools, the government operates 158 of them. The college of the Bahamas was established in Nassau in 1974. It provides programs leading to bachelors and associates degrees.