The Holiday of December 20
December 20 is the most festive day of each year for the French department and region of Reunion Island. Not related to the winter solstice nor Christmas, the entire island observes the Fête des Cafres as a celebration of the official ending of slavery in 1848. “Fet’Kaf” or “20 désanm”, as the holiday is known in the everyday Réunion Creole language spoken by the majority of Reunion inhabitants, is commemorated with concerts, parades, dances, and feasting. The festivities are filled with the joy of freedom and community as well as solemnity in remembrance of those who suffered yet persevered and prevailed in liberty for all.
The shore northwards from Saint-Leu on Réunion Island seen from the Hubert-Delisle Road over the sugar cane fields. Image credit: B.navez, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
French convicts sent from Madagascar were the first to settle on previously uninhabited volcanic terrain in the Mascarene Islands in the mid-1600s. European explorers sailing between their homelands and the Indian subcontinent stopped at various locations in the Indian Ocean as waystations for rest and supplies during their long journeys. In the latter half of the 17th century, the French East India Company established coffee and sugar plantations on the island led by French managers but worked by slave labor and indentured workers from Madagascar, the Comoros, eastern Africa, India, China, and Vietnam. Originally called Île Bourbon in honor of the French House of Bourbon, the island was rechristened Île de la Réunion in 1793 and was known as Île Bonaparte and Île Bourbon before permanently reverting to Île de la Réunion in 1848.
The French government abolished slavery in 1794 but this policy was repudiated in several overseas territories controlled by the French, including Martinique, Mauritius, and Réunion. The Napoleonic Codes of the First French Empire then officially revoked the 1794 law that prohibited the practice of slavery in the colonies of France. French King Louis XVIII reaffirmed the abolition of slavery in 1818, several years after supplanting Napoleon Bonaparte as the ruler of France but in far-away Réunion, plantation owners and political leaders of Île de la Réunion continued to engage in slavery and forced labor due to limited enforcement activity from France. However, in the wake of the February Revolution of 1848 that deposed the July Monarchy of King Louis-Philippe, the French Second Republic sent a new representative to the island. Despite having the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte as his godfather, Joseph Napoléon Sébastien Sarda Garriga insisted on applying French law without exception to Île de la Réunion over the objections of his fellow French citizens there. In October 1848, he issued a decree that slavery would be abolished as of December 20. And it finally became the reality on the island.
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Location of Île de la Réunion off the southeastern coast of the African continent. Image credit: TUBS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The territory’s demographics reflect its history with just under half of the population identifying as mixed race (African, European, and Asian), a quarter as Caucasian, and others as Tamil, Malagasy (of Madagascar), east African, South Asian, and Chinese. The official language is French but Réunion Creole, which incorporates words and expressions from various languages into a base of French, is widely spoken in everyday conversation. Réunionnaise cuisine also reflects the mix of cultural influences, such as rougail de saucisses which combines sausages (believed to have been brought from France), South Asian flavorings such as turmeric and ginger, and African cooking techniques and carry/cari, an island version of Indian curry with rice.
The word ‘Cafre’ of la Fête des Cafres refers to the formerly enslaved Africans of Réunion although the holiday celebrations encompass all peoples of the island, underscoring another theme of the holiday: unity. All around the island, presentations and ceremonies reflect on past history and honor ancestors who were subjected to slavery. Joyous parades and gatherings with music, dancing, and food bring communities together in celebration. Réunionnaise musical traditions of sega and maloya directly descend from colonial times and people brought from various parts of Madagascar, the Comoros, and elsewhere in Africa.
Maloya performers in Saint-Pierre, La Réunion. Image credit: ReporterIndpdt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Maloya and sega are not only musical genres but cultural performance art forms that include storytelling, dance, and music. A key element of Réunion Creole culture and the festivities of December 20, both types of artistic expression date from colonial slavery times. Maloya is often confused for sega but is unique to Réunion, incorporating African and Malagasy influences. Musicians play a variety of percussion instruments and a musical bow called a bob. The word ‘maloya’ is derived from a Malagasy word for misery and sadness, an apt term for lyrics that tell of the hardships of life with clear influences from slave chants and work songs. The importance of maloya was recognized by UNESCO in 2009 when it was added to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Sega music of Réunion and nearby communities of Mauritius and the Seychelles also originated among enslaved populations and features elements of European music along with African and Malagasy traditions. Dancers typically sport colorful clothing and move to percussive music with largely improvised lyrics that express the emotions and realities of life.
Prior to 1848, sega and maloya developed and were practiced surreptitiously as forms of expression and a way of communally keeping cultural traditions and stories alive. Plantation owners, already dismissive of Creole culture, strongly disapproved of these gatherings and the arts of sega and maloya. The French government also frowned upon maloya and sega, banning both through the 1980s in fear of its reminders of France’s history of slavery as well as the association of maloya and sega with self-governance and communist political movements. However, the inhabitants of Île de la Réunion had been accustomed to maintaining their cultural practices and outlets in the face of official disapproval for centuries, and persisted in doing so until and into the time where they could freely gather and perform as they wished. Kabars, or celebrations, crop up regularly around the island but the grandest celebration of all where Réunion celebrates its history and its community is the holiday of December 20, la Fête des Cafres.
Jeu de français
Despite centuries of French involvement, the territory of Réunion maintains and takes pride in its own unique blend of cultures and its commitment to remembering its history. Find twelve words relating to Île de la Réunion in the word search below.
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