Culture of Aruba

Since 1636, during the Eighty Years' War (1621–1648), the Dutch played a crucial role in shaping Aruba's identity, driven by their exploratory and mercantile spirit, contributing to the island's modern character.

The Aruban tourism industry dates to the 1930s when the first commercial airline landed on Aruba and a guest house was established in Oranjestad. Starting in the early 1960s with the rise of a new wave in the tourism industry and the opening of the first luxury resort, Aruba Caribbean Hotel, a national aspiration arose to become "The little Miami of the Caribbean". However, this focus on developing a small island tourism economy (SITES or SIDS) led to rapid and uncontrolled expansion of the tourism sector. As consequence, it brought about a range of socio-ecological challenges and disrupted the sociocultural fabric of the island, known internationally as "One Happy Island".

Customs and traditions

The three Dutch Leeward Islands, Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire, located just off the coast of Venezuela, are among the driest islands in the Caribbean. An example of these economical exploitation in Aruba was deforestation during the Spanish and Dutch colonization, exacerbating significant soil erosion. Due to their advantageous proximity to Venezuela, these islands received supplies of fruit and vegetables. Presently, Aruba imports tropical fruits from United States of America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and the Netherlands.

Cuisine history

Antillean cuisine shares similarities with dishes from other Caribbean islands and Venezuela, but it also possesses its own distinct character. Over the course of history, these islands changed ownership multiple times and were inhabited by diverse races, each contributing to the development of the culture, language, music, and food.

Arawak diet

The original inhabitants, known as the Arawak speaking Caquetios, sustained themselves through simple farming, fishing, and hunting. They cultivated corn and brown beans together, because beans helped maintain the soil's fertility. They also grew sweet potatoes, groundnuts, cocoa, and cassava. Their sources of protein included turkey, duck, iguanas, and seafood from the nearby waters. Fruits were readily available.

Upon the arrival of the Spaniards in the Caribbean islands, they recognized the value of crops like corn, cocoa, groundnuts, and peppers. They were introduced to new fruits like papaya, avocado, coconut, guava, and pineapple. Herbs like basil and oregano, used by the indigenous people for flavoring, also caught their attention. The Spaniards learned about annatto (a saffron substitute), allspice, and other seasonings. This blend of indigenous and Spanish influences laid the foundation for the diverse Antillean cuisine.

Spanish influence

The Arawak people also adopted some of the Spaniards' food practices, including the use of pork fat. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the indigenous people cooked their food by boiling, steaming, roasting (barbacoa, now known as barbecue), or dry-frying on a clay plate (the comal). Sometimes, they even ate their food raw. They learned to appreciate the pig as a source of food and how to use its fat for frying. To enhance the flavor, they used coui, a sauce made from cassava juice and various types of pepper. They also began using annatto for its red-orange color and were introduced to salt. Other new foods included mango, lemon, and olive, brought by the Spaniards from Asia. Initially, they used honey as a sweetener, but the Spaniards introduced sugar.

African influence

The African slaves brought to the Caribbean by the Spaniards to work on sugarcane plantations made significant contributions to Caribbean cuisine. One important contribution was the banana, which has become a crucial part of our cuisine.

The indigenous people made flat cakes from cassava or corn, while the Africans introduced funchi or funge, similar to Italian polenta. Later, the corn flour mash adopted from the indigenous people was also called funchi. Various types of beans and okra (guiambo) were also brought to the Caribbean with the slaves.

The black slaves in the Caribbean introduced their cooking methods, including using banana leaves to cook their food. They also brought tools like the lélé wooden stirring stick and iron pots for making funchi. Black slaves were given the most economical food by their masters. This typically did not include fresh meat or fish. Instead, they ate salted mackerel or cod, which was affordable and could withstand the tropical heat. Dried fish became a primary source of protein for the slaves. They paired the fish with dishes like funchi or starchy tubers such as yam and sweet potatoes.

After the abolition of slavery, Asian immigrants arrived on other Caribbean islands, bringing with them leafy vegetables like spinach, lettuce, and curds.

In the early seventeenth century, the West India Company acquired the islands that would later form the colony of Curaçao.

Dutch and Jewish influence

The Dutch introduced cheese, bacon, and various types of beans, such as kapucijner and peas. Dutch workers who came to work at the oil refineries (Lago Oil and Transport Company and Arend Petroleum Company) brought changes to the local food culture. Before their arrival, most families had two hot meals a day, with the main meal in the afternoon and a lighter one in the evening. With the influence of the oil industry, the evening meal for many people shifted to a simpler bread-based meal. People started to learn about different sandwich fillings and how to use cheese as a sandwich filling. The consumption of potatoes and canned vegetables also became more common.

In the seventeenth century, Sephardic Jews, who had previously migrated from Spain and Portugal and later settled in Brazil, were granted permission by the Netherlands to establish themselves on the islands. They had to leave Brazil during that period. The arrival of these Sephardic Jews, some of whom were affluent, greatly enriched Curaçao's cuisine with the finest Spanish and Portuguese culinary influences, giving it a distinct and more refined character compared to other Caribbean islands and South American regions.

One noteworthy aspect was their mastery of combining sweet and sour ingredients, including capers, dried plums, olives, and raisins, in a single dish, which created a unique flavor that required an acquired taste to appreciate. They also introduced the cooking method au bain marie to the existing culinary practices.

Chinese and Indonesian influence

Chinese sailors, originally part of their own oil fleet, decided to settle in Curaçao and opened restaurants, a tradition often seen in Chinese communities worldwide. In the 1970s, the first Chinese restaurants, like Dragon Phoenix in 1971 and Kowloon in 1975, were established in Aruba.

During Second World War, a significant number of Indonesians, mainly Royal Netherlands Navy sailors, stayed in Curaçao. When they left after the war, they left behind dishes like nasi goreng, bami goreng, and satay, which gradually blended into the local cuisine. In 1955, the floating Bali restaurant opened its doors in Aruba.

United States of America influence

From the Americans stationed here during the Second World War, the local population learned to enjoy Coca-Cola and developed a taste for various bottled soft drinks.

Specialities

As previously mentioned, many elements commonly associated with the Antilles can also be found in Venezuela and other Caribbean islands, albeit with some variations. Local cuisine often features the use of regional papaya-based hot sauces, locally known as pica di papaya, in both accompaniments and cooking.

Ayaca

The ayaca is a dough of white corn flour, also known as masa harina, sugar, salt, aniseeds, finely grated cheese, butter and milk spread thinly is placed on a banana leaf. A stuffing consisting of stewed chicken and pork, capers, raisins, plums, olives, piccalilli, ham, peeled almonds, celery, parsley, gherkins and chili pepper is placed on top. The banana leaf is closed and made into a small, neat package, which is wrapped in a second leaf and then tied with packing string and boiled in boiling water. The prepared ayacas are then allowed to cool. Shortly before serving, the ayaca is warmed up and eaten stripped of the banana leaves. Ayacas are made and eaten during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Keshi yená

The keshi yená (stuffed cheese) is traditionally a hollowed out red Edam cheese is soaked and then stripped of the red wax layer and filled with a meat or fish filling, including capers, raisins, plums and olives. In a well-fitting form it is then prepared in a bain marie or put in the oven. The heat softens the cheese rind. At the end of the baking time, the keshi yená is turned out onto a plate, after having cooled down a bit, cut like a cake and served. For convenience, instead of the hollowed-out, round Edam cheese, which gives the dish its typical taste and soft pink color, a tin baking sheet is lined with slices of Gouda cheese. Similarly to the ayaca, the keshi yená is often served as an hors d'oeuvre.

Sancocho

The sancocho is a typical example of a soup as a main course. In addition to fresh and salted meat, this dish contains vegetables, plantain, tubers, corn on the cob; and both sweet and regular potatoes.

Sopi mondongo

Mondongo is a stewed tripe dish made from the stomachs and hooves of cattle or goat. This stew, like so many other local specialties, is quite expensive. A thinner variant of this is also made, known as sòpi di mondongo (tripe soup).

After being thoroughly cleaned and washed with plenty of lamunchi (lime), the stomachs are parboiled and cut into small pieces. Capers, raisins, plums, olives and most of the sankocho ingredients are added later and the whole thing is simmered over a low heat. Finally, cognac or sherry is added. Foreign visitors sometimes call the stewed mondongo the "Antillean pepperpot".

Sopi yambo

The yambo dish is a thick hearty okra soup. Yambo can be as simple or rich as one would like. A rich yambo contains cured meat and pig tail, fish, cheese, shrimp and kalko (conch meat) paired with funchi. This dish is not popular with many, especially foreigners, due to the slipperiness of the dish.

Aruban snacks and sweets

Festivals and celebrations

Dera Gai

Dera Gai is a traditional celebration in Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, particularly associated with Dia di San Juan (St. John the Baptist Day) on June 24. In the past, it involved lighting bonfires on the eve of St. John's day, signaling the upcoming holiday. Bonfires were fueled by the remains of the previous year's harvest, a practice symbolizing preparation for the new growing season. Men, fueled by singing and music, used to leap over the flames, but this custom faded due to concerns about fire safety. Nowadays, fires are lit all over the island on St. John the Baptist Day itself.

A persistent belief advises against fishing or swimming on St. John's Day due to strong northeast trade winds. In Aruba, the celebration takes the form of Dera Gai, an Aruban harvest festival and cultural event featuring traditional song and dance. Songs were played by violin, guitar, wiri, and tambú. The festival includes a unique ritual, historically involving the symbolic burial of a rooster.

In the traditional Dera Gai ritual, a hole is dug, and a rooster is placed inside with only its head protruding often covered with a green or dried Calabash gourd. The rooster symbolizes the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas. Participants, blindfolded, attempt to hit rooster encouraged by music and singing. The festivals include symbolic attire with females wearing yellow outfits representing the kibrahacha flower (Tabebuia billbergii), and males donning black trousers, white shirts, and a yellow tie.

This holidays is widely celebrated, with both pagan and Christian symbols that reflect the influences of the Arawak natives and the Spanish missionaries, respectively. This festival is no longer as widely practiced, nowadays, the rooster is omitted, and only the calabash and a plastic rooster serves as the target for the reenactment.

Carnival

The Allied victory of World War II was commemorated by a large parade in San Nicolas, consisting largely of Caribbean-English immigrants who came to Aruba to work at the Lago Oil Refinery. The first steel and brass bands debuted a few years later and small parades sprouted here and there. Groups within the Aruban elite have taken up this celebration and expended it further. Aruba Tivoli Club, a private social club, started in 1944 with small celebrations.

In 1955, different clubs and districts came together for the inaugural public Aruba Carnival, featuring the first official Carnival queen. The traditional Grand Parades were introduced in 1957. On November 11, 1966, at 11:11 am, the Stichting Arubaanse Carnaval (SAC), the organization responsible for Carnival, was established. The Carnival season officially commences at this exact moment each year. Since 1981, Tivoli has been producing the Lighting Parade, a nighttime parade. Carnival begins with a small Fakkeloptocht (torchlight parade) that symbolizes the start of the Carnival season. This parade takes place on the first Saturday after New Year.

Every year, Carnival (the big parade) is celebrated on a different date. The timing of Carnival is determined by Easter Day. Easter Sunday, the first Sunday after the first full moon after the beginning of Spring, sets the date for the first day of Carnival day. To find the first Carnival Day, you count back seven weeks or 47 days before Easter. Carnival officially kicks off on a Sunday. Easter can fall as early as March 22 or as late as April 25. As a result, Carnival is celebrated between February 1 and March 7. Following Carnival, there's Ash Wednesday, marking the start of Lent, a 40-day period during which people abstain from eating meat or animal products. These 40 days provide an opportunity for the body to detoxify. After following. Following the period of fasting, Easter arrives.

New year

The New Year celebration in Aruba also includes a cultural tradition known as Dande. The name Dande, derived from the Papiamento word dandara, meaning "to revel, to carouse, or to have a good time", reflects the festive spirit of the occasion. The celebration originated after King William III of the Netherlands declared slaves to be free.

Typically, a group of five or six people, though more can join, engages in these rituals. Accompanied by a singer, they go door-to-door, offering New Year's wishes through repetitive songs. The chorus includes the phrase ai nobe, meaning "new year", sung after each phrase. The celebratory journey usually leads them to the homes friends and family, where the host collects money in his a hat to give to the group. In some regions, specific dande groups may perform on the second day of the year.