Sal procession to remember slavery, Cape Verde

Every Sunday there is a 'procession' of Cape Verdeans on Sal, to remember the days of slavery. I've found nothing about it on the internet so don't know details. The locals cover themselves in black and parade through Santa Maria. Some wear chains. They are accompanied by a group of drums.

For three centuries from 1456 the Cape Verde islands were a setting for the transatlantic slave trade. But even in the 19th century, the slaves led very different lives from those in the Americas. On Cape Verde, families developed from the “free” people and slaves who lived together peacefully. After an uprising of the slaves in 1853, which was suppressed with much bloodshed, slavery was finally abolished on Cape Verde in 1878. From that time on, cultivation of the land was operated in the sharecropping system, which still is typical for the agricultural of Cape Verde.

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See my other Cape Verde blogs :

Salt from Sal

Vila Verde and Santa Maria pier and fish

Santa Maria town and people

Scenery in southern Sal

Scenery in northern Sal

Flora & fauna of Sal

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© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Flora & fauna of Sal, Cape Verde

Flora and fauna.............. There is little of either on Sal! The only fauna I saw were birds such as the lago sparrows and cattle egrets, and one house lizard. There are no big mammals.

Flora is scarce as well. The island is dry most of the year and is very sandy so little grows. The capital of the island is Espargos.  Espargos means "asparagus" and refers to the wild vegetable grass stalk with its bright yellow flowers which grows in sandy areas around the island.

These flowers are abundant in the hotel grounds where they get watered.

There were quite a lot of these yellow flowers in the sandy areas around the beach of Ponta Preta

Also in this sandy area -

These palms are planted -

In the desert area of Terra Boa -

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See my other blogs on Sal -

Salt from Sal

Vila Verde and Santa Maria pier and fish

Santa Maria town and people

Scenery in southern Sal

Scenery in northern Sal

Sal procession to remember slavery

**

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Scenery in northern Sal, Cape Verde

Following on from my blog of scenery in southern Sal, Cape Verde, this one covers the north part of the island. The capital town of Espargos was covered in the previous blog.

To the west is the main port of Palmeira. A small fishing port is also located here. This fontenario means fountain and is where the locals get their water. There is no fresh water on the island, it all comes from desalinated sea water.

As tourists come to this town, the African traders are also here trying to sell souvenirs. They mostly come from Senegal & The Gambia -

The town is small and quiet

The boat yard

The fishing port -

The next destination was Buracona where the Blue Eye is situated. There were lots of tourists there, as the tour buses all follow the same itinerary at more or less the same time.

This natural pool is popular for swimming. But note in the following 3 photos how the sea comes rushing in, so swimmers have to be careful not to get washed over the edge!

This is the Blue Eye. For safety reasons, only 6 tourists, plus guide, are allowed to view at one time

 The ubiquitous cairns!!!

From Buracona we crossed the Terra Boa, a desert like landscape with a couple of high hills

We then went on to Pedro de Lume salt mine.

See my other blogs on Sal :

Vila Verde and Santa Maria pier

Santa Maria

Scenery in southern Sal

Flora & fauna of Sal

Sal procession to remember slavery, Cape Verde

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© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission