Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine July 2017 | Page 248

Fast forward 500 years. You are standing in a
small taboui in the Kalinago Barana Autê, the
model of a typical village of the Kalinago, the
original inhabitants of Dominica. This model
village (with a central karbay for cultural
performances) lies in the protected Kalinago
Territory on Dominica’s northeast coast, where
roughly 3,000 Kalinago descendants live and
still preserve their ancient culture. From the
taboui you follow a circular, forested trail
dotted with different lean-to structures that
illustrate the unique architecture of these
indigenous people. In some of these ajoupas,
daily activities are carried out as they would
have been by the original Kalinago: in the first
ajoupa, a karipona grinds and prepares cassava
(a starchy plant) to be baked into a flat bread.
You jump at the chance to help mix the cassava
and water in a large black kettle and then later
sift the dried fibers in a giant pan, but fatigue
and tiny beads of forehead sweat stop you
before long. You wonder how women did this
so easily (and regularly!) so long ago. Shaking
your arms back to life along the breezy, shaded
trail, you are relieved to know that in the next
hut, you will simply watch as women deftly
weave thin, reddish-brown strips of larouma
reed (sometimes dyed black) into baskets, hats,
mats, purses and other everyday items.
Karbay - the main communal house for meeting, sleeping, and
A few steps away, you notice a curious looking
plant at the side of the trail. It looks like a
prickly little wallet revealing red and white buds
on the inside. Your guide explains that this
would have been used to make dyes. Another
small yellow flower with dullish green leaves
locally known as “coupie” was eaten and also
used for back and digestive ailments. A slender,
bright green leaf plant you see everywhere
was used to lower blood pressure. Your guide
explains that the Kalinago lived in harmony
with the surrounding nature, using its resources
in medicine, food flavouring, and religious
ceremonies.
Weaving with the larouma reed