Blog Post 11: The Gullah

The Gullah culture is derived from their African decent. Because of this, there are many similarities between the Gullah culture and cultures found in Africa. The Gullah were brought over into slavery and resided in South Carolina and Georgia. Their geographical location made is possible for much of the culture to be preserved. For example, they speak a creole language and use African names. As I said earlier, the Gullah have been isolated for a long time and sustained their unique culture until today. However, the isolation that has caused this unique culture has been breaking down and the Gullah culture is being pushed away from the primary culture into a historical perspective at festivals and special events. Even though the Gullah people adopted Christianity, they practiced worship in a wholly different way than the Anglicans. They incorporated the western religion into their own culture and was able to practice more freely.

One aspect of the culture that I found interesting was the fact that they believed in a type of witchcraft called wudu, wanga, joso, or juju. They believed that witches could place roots under a person's pillow and that would cast a spell on that person. They also believed in spirits that could enslave people and control their will. This is very relevant to the history of slavery in this culture.

The music, like other African music relies heavily on drum. Also like most African music, the music influences much dancing. I suspect some of the dances to be organized before-hand because there were parts that included different groups trading off different dance moves. There was one dance that involved a man on stilts. The songs with a vocal aspect included chanting and singing. As mentioned earlier, drums are the main instrument of the Gullah culture. Drumming is prevalent in every Gullah music that I have seen.