The pottery
Located in Les Trois-Ilets since 1783, the Poterie, one of Martinique's oldest enterprises, has given its name to the surrounding village. Here, clay is worked and fired to produce bricks, tiles and earthenware carafes, which are made on site from the many clay deposits exploited since the earliest Amerindian settlements for the manufacture of daily necessities. The Village de la Poterie is a popular tourist attraction, a village of red clay that is now home to craftsmen, potters and shopkeepers, who have come to surround France's oldest working brickworks, located on the site of a former Jesuit convent that was established there at the end of the 17th century. You can kayak in the nearby mangrove swamp. Surrounding it are Creole cottages built of bricks and round tiles from pottery, with roofs, like the houses in town, in the distinctive style of the dorsal friezes that are less and less often seen adorning the spines of the roofs.
Clay, the bearer of history. Craftsmen use Amerindian pottery techniques that have survived the test of time, and as in Sainte-Anne, the "colombin" technique used by the Arawaks remains the most widely practiced and continues to be perpetuated. However, it has been enriched by the contributions of other cultures and by modernism. It is still used by the potters of Sainte-Anne, in particular Madame Trime's daughter, who has taken over from her mother. Kitchen utensils such as the canari, coco neg and tesson, all used for cooking, come from this tradition. It is to them that we owe the much-anticipated clay men and women in the carnival parades. They are covered in clay, move around and, suddenly statuesque, remain frozen like the mime Marceau in immutable postures evocative of everyday scenes, then leave to start again further on.
Wood-flotté
Bwa-floté should not be confused with its homonym, bwaflo, which refers to hollow wood. Driftwood, on the other hand, comes from the sea, which, as it recedes, brings back seaweed and often garbage, as well as shells and bits of driftwood, which, thanks to the ingenuity of those who collect them, are transformed into treasures, since driftwood, the waste product of the sea, has recently given rise to the art of bwa-floté. Curtains, decorations and designs of the most beautiful effect are made with this driftwood, which has become a highly original material, because once the sea has sanded and shaped it and refined its appearance, the expert hands of naturalist artists will take over to give it a second life. At the outset, they were simply bits of twigs or branches picked up on the beach.
The embroiderers and the art of handling the thread in Vauclin
While the husbands were away in the fields or fishing, the ladies spent the whole day festooning the embroideries they were going to sell at the market. These were doilies made with Richelieu embroidery, bourdon stitch, grébiches, point de tige, jours échelles or jours simples, created by women who had been embroidering from mother to daughter for several generations. The Coq district was famous for its embroidery. How did the idea for the first stitch come about? The mystery remains.
To avoid the stiff competition in Le Vauclin itself, they would sell their "products" at the markets in Rivière-Salée, Saint-Esprit or Le François. Several of them would make orders for sheets. The whole neighborhood made sheets, and everyone made a living from them. In the village, too, the ladies of Vauclin made pillowcases, bread bags, personalized sheets and altar cloths from simple scraps of fabric that turned out to be marvels.
It's all done by hand with DMC thread, a thimble and the smallest needle," continues Moïse, the last of us, 74, who no longer has her good eyes and adds wistfully: "Machine embroidery has killed hand embroidery, but I'm willing to show anyone who wants to how to do the stitches.
Bamboo brooms and latanier brooms
The bamboo broom known as balié-zo, with which you could scrub the floor, was made from a piece of bamboo thatch, cut at the waning moon. It's hardly ever made any more. The thatch, cut lengthwise into thin strips, is levelled and then mounted on a handle.
The latanier broom. The latanier is a palm tree with large, fan-like leaves, native to the Mascarene Islands. It can reach 10 meters in height. Its dried, evened leaves, mounted on a handle with mahot twine, are used less and less to make brooms. It's a real shame that these environmentally-friendly tools are increasingly giving way to imported plastic objects and containers, which are not necessarily very sturdy and, in the long run, degrade nature.
The old have died, the new have not been replaced and the local economy has suffered. If we don't change our habits, the craft industry will retire without a trace. Hopefully, this will not be the case unless a renewed sense of lucidity convinces us, gives us the impetus to fight for its revival.
It's a pity that the fate of brooms made from latanier, chairs made from rushes and bamboo basketry is so pitiful. This small craft was practiced all over the island, and made it possible to create a large bamboo basket or pannié-tè, also known as sanbouwa in Creole.
Basketry inherited from the Kalinagos
When we think of basketry in Martinique, we often think of bakoua, and therefore of basketry made from the dried leaves of the bakoua tree. It dates back to the introduction of the bakoua plant to Martinique in the early 19th century. In fact, the Martiniquais have inherited another, much older craft from the Kalinagos, the island's first inhabitants, who passed on to them the art of rope-making as well as that of basketry, one of their many traditions.
From what European chroniclers have left us, we know that in 1658, in his work entitled Histoire naturelle et morale des îles Antilles published in Rotterdam, Charles de Rochefort highlights the art of basketry in the Caribbean language in his Second Book, chapter XVII entitled " Des occupations et des divertissements des Caraïbes ". Rochefort, who didn't always have the knowledge, precision or real names of the local plants, notes that the Caribs make "baskets of rushes and grasses of various colors". He improperly calls this "rush" (a plant he knows in his native land with which similar objects can be made), but it refers here to the aroman and cachibou of the tropical plants with which these things are made. The author cites the making of small tables "that the natives called 'Matoutou'". This word of Kalina origin has survived in the Creole language to designate a dish cooked with crabs: matoutou. He also speaks of "sieves called 'hibichets'", a Creole word for sieves known as lébiché, and of catolis "which are hoods", a word that has not survived.
In the following century, in Volume 1 of his Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amérique , published in The Hague in 1724, Father Labat also devoted a chapter to Amerindian customs. He entitled a chapter of his work "Des Sauvages appelés Caraïbes, de leurs vêtements, armes, vaisseaux et coutumes" ("Of the Indians called Caribs, their clothing, weapons, vessels and customs"). He discusses the same themes as Charles de Rochefort. He describes in minute detail the various objects made in basketry by the "savages". He explains that the "matoutou is a large square box without a lid, a sort of table into which water can be put without fear of it running out, so tightly are the sides worked". He gives the name of the material, which he says is made of "reeds or latan tails, painted in several colors". He gives no details of the techniques used.
He speaks of a hammock in which "you sleep in the cool of the sun, without the need for blankets or pillows", but does not mention the technique used to make the object.
Aroman and cachibou. The basketry practiced in our region is a craft inherited from the Caribbean Indians, the Kalinagos, the island's first inhabitants. They made many everyday objects from basketry, using plant fibers. They used it mainly to create objects of daily use, baskets, hats, mats and other containers from the two tropical plants cachibou and aroman. They passed on their rudiments to the servile population, and in particular to the maroons, with whom they had easier contact and also "shared" the same enemy: the colonist. The tradition was carried on by the marrons, then from father to mother to daughter, and is still practiced today, particularly in Morne des Esses, a district of Sainte-Marie.
Aroman(Maranta arouma) or arouman(Ischnosiphon arouma) is a plant that is fairly widespread in the West Indies, particularly in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Grenada and Saint-Vincent. Aroman produces a kind of arrow that gives a glimpse of rare, unassuming inflorescences that seem to have settled on the plant's stem. This plant is used in basket-making.
Cachibou(Calathéa lutea) is a plant that can reach 1.5 to 2 m in height. Its broad leaves seem to have been hoisted up on stilts to meet the sun. Its yellow flowers are encased in an upright purple sheath. It blooms from June to August. The cachibou is found in the Greater and Lesser Antilles, Central and South America.
Aroman and cachibou are both members of the Marantaceae family. They are two tropical herbaceous plants found around the island, very often in the vicinity of wet paths or rivers. The dried straw from their stems is used to make "Caribbean baskets", the vernacular name for small suitcases. Nowadays, objects such as carafes and bottles are dressed, hats and earrings are made, and a whole range of small handbags. A whole range of increasingly varied and modern objects are made from cachibou and aroman fibers. These plants account for the vast majority of the basketry produced at Morne des Esses.
Preparing aroman. Pick the aroman stems once the plants have flowered. Take the arrows. Using a bamboo "qua" (a kind of homemade instrument used to trim the stems), divide each stem into four. Dry them flat in the sun for a fortnight, until they take on a reddish-brown color. Aroman naturally turns red as it dries in the sun.
Cut into thin, wide strips. Leave to macerate for three or four days, soaking the fibers in mud collected near rivers to obtain even darker shades of black. Split the stems lengthwise into two or four pieces. Once the raw material has been prepared, weave strips of three different colors: brown aroman, black aroman and pearly white cachibou. Recalibrate strips as required. The material is ready.
Preparing the cachibou. Using a small penknife, peel the cachibou into two, three or four strips. Boil the strips for one hour from boiling. Dry in the sun for three days, to obtain a pearly-white color. Then cut into strips and refine as for aroman.
Braiding. The stems must be of good quality, strong and supple. As always, the craftsman will create patterns by combining and interweaving strands of aroman and cachibou. Basketmakers use wooden molds, often custom-made, to create their objects, but they also work directly on curved shapes (carafes, bottles, lampshades). Depending on the craftsman, the piece is often unique. However, designs have evolved into new, more modern forms, and basketry is increasingly taking on other, less traditional creations. Caribbean wickerwork jewelry (bracelets, earrings, bags, etc.) is also produced. Caribbean basketry is accessible to almost anyone. And so the object takes shape under the expert fingers that bring it to life.
A heritage worth preserving. However, apart from the leisure clubs most often frequented by senior citizens, or a few associations wishing to preserve this part of our heritage, there is no vocational training as such with a serious focus on learning how to weave and prepare the straw.
Objects made from Caribbean straw are being used less and less for the same purpose, more for decoration and gift-giving than as utilitarian objects as they once were. They are being replaced by modern utensils, putting their function at risk. If it is not to disappear like so many others before it, Caribbean basketry, which is part of our heritage, must absolutely adapt to the modern world. It's vital to know it, to master its know-how, so that it can be passed on to younger generations, who in turn will have to perpetuate it.
The mahot rope
The banana tree(Musa) maho, also known as pied de banane maho or bannann kod in Creole (meaning: the banana with which we make ropes), is a plant that can reach 2.50 to 3 m in height. The fruits of this special-fibre banana are pungent and much smaller than the so-called frayssinette bananas (a variety of small dessert bananas). The mahot banana tree can be found in Sainte-Marie, Peru and just about everywhere else on the island, but without neglecting the little interest its insignificant fruit provides, its fibers are being replaced every day, a little too often, by the nylon ropes we go out and buy without questioning their composition, and even less so the risks of pollution, which are irreparably increasing to the detriment of the planet. As a result, rope made from natural fibers is on the verge of extinction. However, the same fiber preparation technique can be found in the South Pacific. This natural fiber is considered to be one of the strongest.
A simple manufacturing technique. After the banana bunches have been harvested, the trunk of the banana tree, called tonton-fig in Creole, is cut off to allow the new crop to grow more vigorously. The trunk of the banana plant is left to dry for several days. It is then split lengthwise to remove the ribs of the gutter-shaped leaves. Only the lateral parts are kept, as they are the most fibrous.
The recovered fibers are dried again and then woven into mats. The resulting mats, laid end to end, can be used to make ropes several meters long.
In addition to banana-mahot fiber, Martinique also boasts native species of tree or shrub, belonging to the dombeya or hibiscus genus, known as mahots. These were originally species of hibiscus or Hibiscus elatus, and their name was borrowed from the language of the Taïnos, the first inhabitants who used the inner bark. Some species belong to or are related to the Malvaceae family, or resemble them and produce comparable products, such as the chili mahot, black mahot, green mahot, savannah mahot, also known as cousin mahot, and blue mahot. Their bark can be processed to produce strong fibers with which to make strips. In Cuba, mahot bois-bleu is used to hold Havana cigars in bundles. Mahot fiber is also known for the production of textile objects. These ropes were used to tie up cattle in the field and also to moor fishing boats. Mahot has the property of becoming even more resistant in contact with water. Thongs from the inner bark were used to tie bamboo traps, until the day when modernism took over, wire mesh replaced bamboo, and everyone was quick to convert to the consumption of synthetic strings and ropes, all of which came from elsewhere and have nothing to do with ecology. And tantan mahots, pink mahots, small mahots, blue mahots, white mahots, red mahots, all became bastard mahots.
Reviving a technique. Despite its great reliability, solidity and resistance to the elements, mahot rope has had to capitulate to convenience: farmers and fishermen prefer to go to the mall to buy the new ropes, which are closer than the forest, and are already ready-made.
Are we aware of the loss of the mahot basket-making technique that gave us a means of living in self-sufficiency, without being eternally dependent on others?
The bakoua
Origin and use. The bakoua tree, whose Latin name is Pandanus sanderi, belongs to the Pandanaceae family. "It is a fast-growing tropical tree that reaches a height of 5 to 10 meters when fully grown. It was introduced to Martinique in the early 19th century. Its dried leaves provide textile fibers used in basketry. It was introduced to Martinique at the very beginning of the existence of the botanical garden, an establishment created by the decree of 30 pluviôse an XI (February 19, 1804). It was part of the rich collection of plants that two administrators from India had sent to Martinique". (Reisser, Historique du Jardin des plantes de Saint-Pierre Martinique, 1846). It grows in the warm regions of Asia, Africa and Oceania. In his Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles, naturalist Frédéric Cuvier (1773-1838) classifies it in the pandanea family and describes it under its vernacular name baquois. The learned name pandanus was given to it by a 17th-century naturalist named Ramphius. According to Cuvier, it derives its Baquois name and origin from the species found on Isle de France (Mauritius) and has been used to designate all species of pandanus .
Baquois is "a genus of plant composed of five species of African and Indian shrubs".
The use of bakoua developed as soon as it was introduced to Martinique in the early 19th century. In 1857, Charles Belanger, director of the botanical garden at Saint-Pierre, listed the pandanus or vaquois among the thirty-eight species of "industrial plants" that made up the collection of the Saint-Pierre plant garden, in his report to the director of the interior of Martinique(Revue coloniale, March 1857, "Martinique. Jardin botanique de Saint-Pierre").
Although basketry is an art inherited from the Kalinagos, they did not pass on the art and technique of bakwa, as they did not know the pandanus or bakoua .
The female tree produces flowers that give a fruit resembling a large green pine cone, which may turn yellow, and the seeds that fall are yellow and green. The male tree produces long, melliferous flower stalks. The leaves have thorny edges and can reach up to 1.50 m in length. In Martinique, the dried leaves of the male and female bakoua trees are used for basketry. The traditional hat made from bakoua leaves is called bakwa in Creole. Braided mats can be sewn into baskets, bags, belts and even earrings. The fruit of this tree can also be used to make other, less well-known products. It is served as a vegetable, can be made into flour, also into excellent jams, or used in pastries, but according to Jean-Louis Marie-Rose, we don't have a tree in our region whose fruit and leaves can be used to make pale green and yellowish green dye, nor the perfume. Once the trunk has been cut and dried, this soft plant was once used as a mattress or partition wall.
The fruit is a kind of seed-bearer, with a multitude of seeds enveloping the flesh. They are placed on the core, which is eaten. The seeds all around are inedible, but fermenting them in water can produce slightly sour cider or vinegar.
From the core that supports the seeds, a flesh is extracted that, like a vegetable, can be eaten raw or cooked, and from which a flour can be extracted to make fritters, cakes, gratins, bread, etc.
The bakoua root combats fever and malaria...
The memories of an artisan-chapelier. Jean-Louis Marie-Rose, a self-taught artisan hat-maker who lives in the Morne Pitault district of Le Lamentin, passes on the "know-how" he acquired from his uncles, who were themselves hat-makers. He points out that he owes his skill above all to his own experience, as his uncles taught him his trade without explaining it to him. He explains how, for over twenty years, the bakoua tree and its leaves have been an intrinsic part of his personality. Jean-Louis Marie-Rose, who is also a painter in his spare time, and a social worker, reveals that from his earliest childhood, at the age of 12, he was interested in the bakoua technique. He already liked to reproduce the identical weaving techniques used by his father and uncles. After their day's work, these men made hats that they bartered or sold to improve their daily lives, ranging from the conical hat worn by fishermen to protect them from the sun, to the wider-brimmed hat worn by farmers in their gardens, not forgetting the wide-brimmed, elaborately braided hats worn by women. Later, the fashion for imported hats such as panamas, colonial helmets, felt hats, melons and other galurins and berets came to dethrone bakoua hats for some, as if with a whiff of disparagement. But the indispensable bakoua seems to be screwed onto the heads of politicians, as well as some of the bourgeoisie, all with the unavowed aim, of course, of appealing to the people, for this hat has nevertheless remained very popular.
The work of the bakoua. According to our hatmaker, you have to look for the tree and pick the ripe leaves to prevent them from being bitten by moths. Recognize them as "transformable" objects to prevent them from crumbling. Dry them, remove the thorns all along the leaves, soften them with a knife, treat them, leave them to rest and then cut them into strips to make the strands you'll braid before assembling them into a hat. There are several types of braiding, depending on the number of strands used. Jean-Louis Marie-Rose takes into account the hat's balance , its shape, its transformation, its sewing... The originality of Jean-Louis Marie-Rose lies in his evolution of tradition. He produces made-to-measure, one-of-a-kind pieces. He has a very fine and expert tactile sense and of the quality and suppleness of the leaf. You can even feel it with your eyes closed," he says. He also explains that the leaves of the female tree are easier to weave.
Hats off to Monsieur Marie-Rose! A gigantic activity of repeating the same gesture is undertaken from dawn until late at night, which undoubtedly requires extreme patience at all times. Today's bakoua hat benefits from modern know-how, and Jean-Louis Marie-Rose has succeeded in making it a hat that attracts a new type of customer: those who appreciate luxury hats, but the disillusioned man doesn't want to hear any more. He gave up and set up a museum to show the marvels that can be achieved with a simple sheet of bakoua.
Today, without rejecting tradition, the bakoua hat is being reborn in a variety of different forms. The practice of ancestral know-how still exerts its power over this material and continues to enhance a heritage that we need to keep alive.
