On 28 October, the Creole world marked its international day

On Wednesday 28 October, Creole speakers across the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the diasporas marked the International Day of Creole Language and Culture. Trace France called on its audience that day to celebrate the music, dance, food, languages, tales and traditional dress of the Creole world.

A date born in Saint Lucia

According to a text by Alain St.Ange published by eTurboNews, it was on 28 October 1981, at a third conference held at the Old Port in Saint Lucia, that Creole speakers decided to join together in a movement named Bannzil Kréyòl. The 28 October date had earlier been kept in Dominica as a "Creole Day", the same text says. The first Bannzil Kréyòl day took place on 28 October 1983, as Le National also notes.

In Saint Lucia, that first edition was mainly a radio event, with about fifteen hours of Kwéyòl programming on Radio St. Lucia, according to the daily The Voice.

The outlet NWE pointed out for the occasion that Creole is not a single language: Haitian, Guadeloupean and Mauritian Creoles, for example, are distinct languages with their own grammar and histories.

In Haiti, a whole month

Haitian Creole has about 11 million speakers in Haiti and some 2 million abroad, mainly in Canada and the United States, according to Wikipedia. The 1987 Constitution made it, together with French, one of the country's two official languages. Its Article 213 also called for a Creole academy, which only came into being in December 2014: the Akademi Kreyòl Ayisyen (AKA).

This year the AKA launched the month of Creole language and culture in Port-au-Prince under the theme "Lang Kreyòl: Fòs, Kreyasyon ak Konesans" (Creole language: strength, creation and knowledge), Le National reported on 7 October. The paper describes it as the 43rd International Day, with conferences and performances throughout October in Port-au-Prince, the Grand'Anse and the Sud. The AKA's secretary, Samuel Jean Baptiste, promised "a month rich in activity".

On Sunday 25 October, an online debate led by Kenny Thelusma and Elmano Endara Joseph brought together about thirty participants to discuss the production and circulation of scientific knowledge in Creole at Haitian universities, according to Le National. It was the third conference-debate in the series.