Horse and mule races on the beach of Sainte-Marie
A revived tradition. To revive the tradition of mule racing, which has been firmly rooted in Sainte-Marie since the 1940s, and to help ensure its continued existence, a tripartite agreement has been signed between the Parc naturel régional de la Martinique (PNRM), the town and the association Les Sabots dans le sable de Sainte-Marie. Every year, as part of the patron saint's festival, a horse race is held on the beach at Sainte-Marie in Martinique, attracting large crowds on August 15. The person in charge of the horse race is Patrick Bilvin. Thoroughbred, half-bred, pony and mule races are held on the commune's seafront beach. These events take place over two days in August, and the most popular day is August 15. Prizes are awarded in particular for the mule race, labelled Grand Prix du Parc, and the other thoroughbred, half-bred and pony races are the responsibility of the town and sponsors ADN and ALIMA, two food stores located in Trinité, and all this is perfectly organized.
We're on the beach, far from Carrère in Lamentin, with its mown, well-marked and sanitized track, far from the punters in the stands. Here, people are hustling. People want to see. The race is popular, starting at 3pm sharp. There are no entry tickets, nor any fashion shows for future models, but the jockeys are dressed in the color of the stable they represent, and their helmets and protective vests are compulsory.
Race procedure. Competitors line up by category on the beach in front of the steward, who blows the starting whistle. Once the start is given, the jockeys must reach a flag at the other end of the beach. All this takes place between the shore and the waves, in the sand, in the water, on rather ungrateful ground that, far from being regular, slides and sinks under the hooves, close to a sea that invites itself every time it's not expected, adding charm to the picturesque atmosphere as well as to the overexcited cheering. After each race, the trophies are awarded and by 5.30-6 p.m. the race is over. The tired horses return to their stables, but the beach is not empty - it's a party. The pistachio sellers, zealous as usual, call out to customers: "Biiien grilléééés, grilléééés tout chaud!" just two fathoms away from the sinobol sellers: mint-grenade-orange syrup on crushed ice. Night arrives, slowly but surely, with its accompanying maritime freshness. If it's chilly out, it's hard to resist the temptation of a refreshing drink, but the bells are waving to keep their luggage inside, and they're waving full of hope.
The popular tradition of chouval-bwa
Until the 1970s, the chouval-bwa (wooden horse merry-go-round) was a staple of patron saint festivals in Martinique. It's a merry-go-round, pushed solely by the strength of one's arms and essentially made up, as its name suggests, of artistically crafted and painted wooden horses - even if it also includes buggies and ti-ban (benches), always made of wood.
At the center of the merry-go-round stood musicians, a veritable small orchestra: bwatè, who set the rhythm by tapping on a piece of bamboo; chacha player - a kind of maracas; accordion or clarinet player; tanbou dé bonda player - a two-sided drum. So, in addition to the exhilaration of twirling, the chouval-bwa was also a great moment of musical pleasure for the many spectators.
Unfortunately, this fine tradition has disappeared from local festivals, and Josélita and Claude Germany, founders of the Chouval Bwa Trad association, are to be commended for their efforts to maintain and promote it. A musical practice known as "chouval-bwa" does exist.
The bwaflo of Grand'Rivière
Bwaflo (hollow wood) or pri-pri. Behind the mastery of the natural environment lies the construction of cultural identity. At the right moon, a week before Gloria Saturday, children cut the trunk or branch that will serve as their float. The pripri, or raft, is made up of two or more floats, and the size of the float must correspond to the size of the person using it. The float must dry for at least eight days before being launched. They peel off the bark, bevel the front to serve as a point that will split the water, then make a notch in the side to personalize the object," recounts Monsieur Chadet, a native of Grand'Rivière who was a bwaflo enthusiast as a child. Bwaflo is the Creole name for theOchroma pyramidale tree, also known as balsa (raft) in Spanish. This tree is in the same family as the cheese tree, whose wood is also used for its flotation properties. This tree is common in the north of Martinique, and is used to make rafts called pripri in Marin or bwaflo in Grand'Rivière. In the past, more than a hundred children equipped with their rafts have been known to wait for the "resurrection of the bells" on Saturday Gloria, before setting off to take on the waves and race against the sea. Lying down on his bwaflo , the child paddles to reach the highest wave faster than his rivals.
The bwaflo technique, creative daring. According to Emmanuel Nossin, pharmacist and ethno-pharmacologist, "The truth is that the practice of bwaflo cannot be conceived outside the historical and sociological context in which it exists. And as any social practice is carried out in a society based on a traditional naturalistic way of thinking, the meaning and purpose of its objects and their uses always involve complex interactions between technical, historical and symbolic factors. Behind the apparent simplicity of this banal recreational activity lies not only the creative audacity and dexterity of our elders, but also their dynamic way of integrating natural elements into social life. Undoubtedly, the daring and dexterity that drove our elders to face Martinique's most dangerous sea comes historically from our Amerindian ancestors, who were first and foremost peoples of the sea. Let's not forget that it was through the sea that they colonized this land and organized life.
Our African ancestors, the vast majority of whom were forest peoples, kept buried in their memories the trauma of the sea and the "crossing of the middle", that symbolic line of no return.
Transmission, borrowing, copying, stylization, forgetting, the desire to assert oneself differently, who cares? The connection between the values of some and the fears of others, at a time when mercantilist colonization had largely undermined the ecological continuity between man and nature, ultimately led to a synergy in which new cultural elements emerged.
Thus, it is assumed, the practice of bwaflo or pripri emerged, with its multiple heritage facets: entertainment for the young connoting the Martiniquais' immense familiarity with the natural elements, a physical and mental feat for uprooted people forced by the sea into a world they were condemned to adopt, and a permanent challenge to the inordinate power of wild nature, but at the same time based on a profound respect for the latter.
According to Emmanuel Nossin, it also shows, as an expression of the fusional relationship that the Martiniquais have always had with their environment, that alongside the materialistic, brutal, exclusive and excessive appropriation of it, there is always a more balanced way of managing it.
Silting up the port. According to Mr. Chadet, with the silting-up of the harbor, due to the construction of the quay, the waves have become incredibly gentler, and these ancestral encounters have been moved to the town of Basse-Pointe, now a surfing destination for its equally renowned waves. Today, in Grand'Rivière, only the fishermen have kept the custom: when they're not on their boats, they go out to sea on their bwaflo to look for fish.
To conclude, Emmanuel Nossin adds that the traditional practice of bwaflo or pripri, free from any economic purpose in an area devoted to fishing and intensive agriculture, has been supplanted by the many modern board games of today. It will forever remain a shining example of the creativity of our forefathers, and of their immeasurable ability to generate unique products from the elements provided by nature. Taking into account the structuring lines of our intangible cultural heritage, the creation of a museum is an urgent necessity.
