Independence season is drawing to a close here in Dominica. Yesterday, Sunday 3rd of November marked 35 years of (formal) independence for the Nature Isle.
The previous weekend Friday was Jounen Kweyol (creole day), a day of creole food, dress and Kweyol/Patwa language being spoke in workplaces (offices, shops, restaurants) island wide. The festivities also included a Creole dress parade.
One thing that stood out during the parade was the presence of a number of fathers walking with their sons pushing traditional style kaboués (karts) and trucks. These karts and trucks are constructed from wood and reused materials (e.g. corned beef tins for front bonnets) and painted in various colours.The making of them and walking with them is a traditional past time that now endures as a part of the Independence/creole season celebrations.
Dominicans are deeply and reflexively aware of their Culture - as an array of heritable performative traditions - being more pronounced than elsewhere in the Antilles, and they consciously work hard during the Independence season to keep its spirit strong.
These fathers have been actively engaged by the teachers of one of Roseau's primary schools (Convent Preparatory School I believe) to lend their knowledge of the practice of making these trucks and karts - notably the complex string/wire steering system - with their sons. Activities of a technical nature - such as building, making, fixing - are popular modes of father-son teaching and guidance among fathers who spend time with their sons.
I would argue that this is another notable example of the increasingly visible public profile of fatherhood in the Antilles and the availability of fatherhood as a constituting aspect of mature masculine being for some men.
