Ana Elrich

Rebel Faces: An 18th century painting containing the actual faces of rebels who participated in one of the most well documented revolts by black enslaved people.

      “...The main figures in the revolt were the three brothers Wally, Mingo and       Baratham.”

“... Because of the shortage of women, many of the enslaved men had wives and children living on other nearby plantations and it had become custom for these men to visit their families during their free time.”

“...warden Westphaal was given the order to increase the yield and restore order and discipline. To effectuate this, one of the measures he took was bringing down the amount of free time from two days back to one.”

Read more at https://anaelrich.com/2020/11/10/rebel-faces/

https://anaelrich.com/2015/07/21/nursery-rhymes-nostalgia/

In Suriname we preserved our African heritage as best as we could. In this children’s song the Akan name days are taught in the local language called Sranantongo. The song is performed by “Het Mannenkoor Maranatha” , source johndoerock, Youtube. 

For more songs like this visit https://anaelrich.com/2015/07/21/nursery-rhymes-nostalgia/. Also to learn more about African names in Suriname visit https://anaelrich.com/2020/12/13/whats-in-a-name/

The name days/  Den dey nen Our grands and greatgrands/  Wi afo nanga wi trotro gave the days a great name/  ben gi den dey wan bigi nen Now it fits that we all/ Now a fiti so dat’ wi alla maal must learn to know them/  musu fu leri sabi den If you don’t know them/  Suma no sab’ den you don’t have to be ashamed/  no ab’ fu syen Just listen to them/  Pot’ yu yesi arki den 2x

A boy born on Sunday/ Wan manpikin fu sondey Kwasi, Kwasi is his name/ Kwasi, Kwasi a nen A girl of the same day/ Wan uma fu na srefi dei Kwasiba you have to call her/ Kwasiba unu mus’ kari en

A boy born on Monday/ Wan manpikin fu mundey Kodjo, Kodjo is his name/ Kodjo, Kodjo a nen A girl of the same day/ Wan uma fu na srefi dey Adyuba you have to call her/ Adyuba unu mus’ kari en

https://anaelrich.com/2020/12/13/whats-in-a-name/ 

What’s in a name? Well, in Suriname quite a lot. A small number of the Africans that were enslaved in Suriname managed to keep or preserve their African heritage through their names. Albeit spelt differently several Akubas, Yaos and Solimans could be observed in the slave registries. How did they manage this? Sometimes due to pure fear on the side of the colonizers. 

Short horror movie. Can’t say about what to not give away any clues..:-). But it’s a popular Caribbean folkloric figure  Source: Youtube, Sranan Folktales  © 2019 LITTLE WOLF IMAGINATION ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Hoe wij hier ook samen kwamen

I often blog about the history and cultural experience of the African diaspora, and then specifically the African Surinamese diaspora. Since Suriname is an ethnic and cultural melting pot, there are however, several other diasporic communities. One of those communities is the Surinamese Indian diaspora or the Hindustani as we call them in Suriname. After slavery was officially abolished in 1863…

These animations are everything!

Today I saw a newspaper article about the MyHeritage app Deep Nostalgia. It’s an app that animates faces from (old) photographs. The animations I saw were so realistic, and I knew immediately that I needed to try it. And when I tell you I was not disappointed! I started with a photograph of my maternal grandmother. The app was so easy to use. You have to upload picture, the system then does it’s…

My first blogpost for this year was one where I expressed my anxiety and fears surrounding this epidemic. Even though I still feel anxious and afraid, there are also many things I need to be very appreciative and thankful for. In previous posts I have shared some of my personal feelings, but it has been years since I blogged and shared something truly personal. So without further ado, these are…

A couple of weeks ago I was sent this song, written and sung by Surinamese physician Ruben del Prado. It’s called Grantangi. This is the Sranan word for saying both thank you, and please. He wrote this song as an ode to everybody working on the front-line of the COVID response team. This would include all healthcare workers of course, but also the hospital kitchen staff and the security guards.…

What’s in a name?

Even though a lot of historical records have been digitized, researching your Surinamese family history can still be tricky at times. For instance, the enslaved Africans in Suriname only received a family name upon manumission or emancipation. This makes digging through the slave registries still a very tricky process. You constantly have to check and recheck that you’re actually looking at the…

Lurid finds, a 19th century story of a gruesome murder.

Content warning: This blogpost contains material that may be considered very disturbing to some. Discretion is advised. When doing research, I sometimes stumble upon very lurid stories. This is one of them. The following text contains an English summary of the newspaper article displayed in the image below. “Surinaamsche courant”. Paramaribo, 1837/06/25 00:00:00, p. 2. Geraadpleegd op Delpher…

When the motherland and the diaspora meet (3)

This is the third installment in this series. Because this post has been sitting in my drafts for quite some time now, some of these songs are somewhat old. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t good…! Good music doesn’t have an expiration date!

Gafarock featuring Rico Saridin- Wong Jowo I know that I mostly highlight all things pertaining to the African diaspora. But this song is a very good…

Rebel Faces: A painting containing the actual faces of rebels who participated in one of the most well documented slave revolts.

As a child most of my days were spent analyzing the books at home, flipping through pages of encyclopedias, or reading about the unmasking of a killer in Agatha Christie’s novels. I loved to read, and it didn’t really matter what I was reading. The book just had to be nice and thick, and heavy, and needed to have an interesting cover. One of those thick, heavy books with an interesting cover was…