Navigation
Records in this category
- fa
- face
- face
- face-basin, face-bowl, face-pan
- fainty
- fair, fear
- fair-skin
- fairly well
- fall
- fall
- fall away
- fall ill and shameful
- fall out
- falling crop
- false
- false boxwood
- false hog gum
- false pear
- fambly, family
- Family Islands
- family wood
- fan
- fan rake
- fanner grass
- fanner, fenno
- far as
- farm
- farrer
- farrer
- fast
- fast
- fat pine
- fat pork
- father
- Father!
- father-giver
- father-in-law
- fathom
- favour
- fe
- feared
- feather
- featherbed
- Feberary
- feed
- feeding tree
- feeg
- feel
- feen bush
- fence
- fenno
- fer
- ferruffle
- fertilize
- festation
- fester
- Festivals
- fetch
- fetch in, fetch up
- fever
- fever bush
- fever grass
- field bed
- fig tobacco
- fig tree, feeg tree
- fight somebody to do something
- fight yourself up (doing something)
- fighter
- file
- fillim
- fillimadick
- fillimingo
- fillimingo wait-man
- filthiness
- filthy days
- fin
- fin
- find yourself
- fine
- fine-fine
- finger
- finger banana
- finger pepper
- fingle
- finish
- fire
- fire engine
- fire hearth
- fire log
- fire place
- Fire-Bug
- fire-bun, fire-bum
- fire-chip
- fire-dance
- fire-fire
- fire-food
- fire-kitchen
- first
- first face cousin
- first name
- first picker
- first-time
- fish
- fish gill
- fish knife
- fish pot
- fish tea
- fish-pot edging
- fish-scale fern
- fishin
- fishin' ranch
- Fishing
- fishing bag
- fishining, fishning
- fishy
- fit
- fit out
- fit up
- five rock, six rock
- five!
- five-finger
- five-pound word
- fix
- fix
- flame fish
- flamingo bill
- flamper, flamber
- flat
- flat-row
- flattening
- flavouring meat
- fleet
- fleshman 'eas, the fleshman
- flick
- flick
- fling
- flitters
- float
- flog
- floor bed
- flour biscuit
- flour cake
- flour pap
- flour tea
- flour-bag (panty, robin)
- flower plants
- flowering aloe
- flowers
- flum-flum
- flusteration
- flux stomach
- fly pen
- fly-by-night
- fly-house
- flying ants
- flying tiger
- fo
- Folklore
- follow
- fonk
- foo-foo, fou-fou, fufu
- food store
- food wagon
- fool
- fool-fool
- fooly
- foot
- foot bottom
- foot grass
- foot-to-foot
- foot-track
- foots
- for
- for, fa, fe, fer, fo
- forbidden fruit
- force
- fore-day
- foreparents
- forget: not forget somebody
- fork
- fortify
- Fortune Island
- fortune teller
- forty-fin
- foster wife
- four-man-strength
- fowl
- fowl berry
- fowl egg
- fowl foot
- fowl snake
- fowl-crow
- fowl-foot soapberry
- fowled of doing something
- fowler
- Fox Hill Day
- fox-tail grass
- free bowels
- freeness
- Freetown
- French bull-hook
- French knife
- French trumpet flower
- fresh
- fresh cold
- freshness: do freshness
- frettining
- fringe
- fringe reef
- fringe suit
- frogwood
- from
- from side to side
- from time
- front
- front street, front road
- frowzy
- Fruit
- fufu
- fugger
- full
- full (up)
- full water
- full-crop
- fun
- funk
- funk out
- funky
- furnitures
- furrer
- furrer
- fuss
- fyak
Tags
Definitions starting with F
Folklore
The folklore of the Bahamas, like other aspects of its culture, has its roots in both Europe and Africa and is closely related to that of both the American South and the Caribbean proper. The Bahamians' RABBY or B' RABBY has his counterpart in Br'er Rabbit on the mainland and other cunning rabbits from Suriname to Sierra Leone, while ANANCY is well known from Belize to Ghana. While the origin of many folktale characters and their names can be found in Africa (e.g. RAMAKANSA and BOOKY), others are also found in European fairy tales (e.g. the King and the Princess) and seem to represent a convergence. However, the source of many such characters remains uncertain, e.g. U-SANGE-WILEY, BLOOCHEL, and JENERAT.
The OLD STORIES usually open with a rhyme similar to the following:
Once upon a time, and a very old time
Monkey chew tobacco and spit white lime.
Bullfrog jump from limb to limb
And Cuckero tell the time.
Likewise, they have a closing formula like "BE BO BEN, my story end". These tales may have a SING or chant repeated at intervals, sometimes with words whose significance is unknown. A narrator who can TALK OLD STORY well will act out the tale and elaborate it as he goes along to the appreciative cries of "SUNDAY r from the audience. There are other tales of various supernatural beings such as JACK O'LANTERN, CHICKCHARNEYS, the LITTLE RED MEN, YEHO, GREASY MAN, and the fire-breathing, chain-dragging ghost, ERROL FITZGERALD. There are even Indian Spirits, the ZEMI, and ghosts of the African EBOS, who walk the beaches at night, as well as assorted HAGS, HAUNTS, and DUPPIES.
Less traditional but very lively are the tales of SHINE, favored by teenage boys, recounting the exploits of a "super nigger" who outwits those who try to manipulate him. Another aspect of folklore has to do with beliefs, ranging from the cause of asthma (the TISSICK BAG) and albinism (MOONLIGHT), to why people can't catch their breath (SPERIT PASSING), how to interpret dreams (KING TUT), and the powers of the SOUNDING ROD. The liveliness of the folktale tradition is attested by a tale told recently about the devil-king Hitler and the good king Churchill.
See Edwards 1895, Parsons 1918, Crowley 1966, Glinton 1974.
Tags: Encyclopedia definition, folktales
Related entries:
Author: Holm and Shilling, DBE, 1982
Revision: 1.1
You can comment on this entry. We are especially interested in where you may have heard this word and who you may have heard use this term or specific usage of this word.
Please give example sentences.
Start comment!