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64-524: J'ouvert is a gallicization of jou ouvè ( IPA [ʒu uvɛ] ; jour ouvert in standard French), the French Creole term meaning "dawn" or "daybreak", as this is the time at which the celebration is typically held. The origins of J'ouvert can be traced back to Trinidad. French traditions from the island's original Carnival, African and Afro-Trinidadian traditions from Canboulay, and various social and political influences maybe have all played

128-703: A French-speaking city; that proves how well Bill 101 has worked!" The policy has been even more successful in New Brunswick , for example: the city of Edmundston went from around 89% French-speaking in 1996 to 93.4% in 2006, the city of Moncton from 30.4% in 1996 to 33% in 2006, Dalhousie (from 42.5% to 49.5%) and Dieppe (from 71.1% in 1996 to 74.2% in 2006). Some cities even passed 50% of French speakers between 1991 and 2006 like Bathurst, which passed from 44.6% of French speakers in 1996 to 50.5% in 2006, or Campbellton, from 47% in 1996 to 55% in 2006. Rates of francization may be established for any group by comparing

192-411: A bilingual city with French as the majority language and lingua franca . The language shift began in the eighteenth century and accelerated as Belgium became independent and Brussels expanded beyond its original city boundaries. From 1880 onwards, more and more Dutch-speaking people became bilingual, resulting in a rise of monolingual French speakers after 1910. Halfway through the twentieth century,

256-723: A festival for freed slaves and former indentured laborers to celebrate freedom. It was celebrated annually on Emancipation Day . In 1881, the British colonial government on Trinidad attempted to ban Canboulay. This resulted in disturbances known as the Camboulay Riots , which took place in Port of Spain , San Fernando , and Princes Town . It is said that people smeared themselves with oil or paint to avoid being recognized, or may have been covered in black soot from burning cane. Today, covering bodies in oil, paint, or other substances

320-577: A francization certificate, which is granted if the linguistic requirements are met. If not, employers are required to adopt a francization programme, which includes having employees, especially ones in managerial positions, who do not speak French or whose grasp of French is weak attend French-language training. As part of the francization programme, the Quebec government provides free language courses for recent immigrants (from other countries or other provinces) who do not speak French or whose command of French

384-424: A great success. Although French as a mother tongue has gone from 80.6% to 77.4% in the province between 1971 and 2016, knowledge of French among the province's population went from 88.5% to 94.5% over the same period. English as a mother tongue fell from 13.1% to 8.8% of the province's population between 1971 and 2016 while knowledge of French among people with English as a mother tongue rose from 37% to 69% over

448-550: A hag enters your house, she always shed her skin. When you first see her, she appears like the flame of a candle floating about; in some way, she puts you to sleep, and resumes her body (but without the skin); she then lies on you, and sucks away every drop of blood that God has put in you." There are more references to the Bahamian Hag in Folk-tales of Andros Island, Bahamas, published in 1918 by Elsie Clews Parsons that are

512-562: A linguistic concept, known usually as gallicization , it is the practice of modifying foreign words, names, and phrases to make them easier to spell, pronounce, or understand in French. According to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the figure of 220 million Francophones (French-language speakers) is underestimated because it only counts people who can write, understand and speak French fluently, thus excluding

576-446: A majority of African French-speaking people, who do not know how to write. French has the world's fastest-growing relative share of speakers. In 2014, a study from the French bank Natixis claimed French will become the world's most-spoken language by 2050. However, critics of the study state that French coexists with other languages in many countries and the study's estimates are prone to exaggeration. The number of Francophones in

640-591: A night-time harvest festival characterized by drums, singing, calinda dancing, chanting, and stick-fighting . The term "Canboulay" comes from the French cannes broullee , meaning "burnt cane ". It may refer to the putting out of cane fires, the pre-harvest cane burning for pest control, or the burning of cane as an act of sabotage during the time of slavery. Slavery was abolished in Trinidad and other British territories in 1833, with Emancipation taking effect 1 August 1834. After Emancipation, Canboulay developed into

704-612: A part of the tradition involves covering the body in oil, mud, or chocolate. On other island, colored paints and power are more popular for covering the clothes or body. Throughout the Caribbean, many J'ouvert revelers wear traditional, satirical , or popular costumes. In Trinidad and Grenada , " Jab Jabs " (from the French diable, meaning "devil") dress as devils of different colors, and "Jab Molassi" (molasses devil) cover their bodies in oil from head to toe. By contrast, in Aruba J'ouvert

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768-422: A reinterpretation of Canboulay beginning at 6:00 A.M. on Carnival Monday. Some historians claim that revelers took advantage of the pre-dawn darkness and began festivities before 6:00 A.M.—and that this secret and rebellious celebration is the origin of J'ouvert. Today, J'ouvert in the Caribbean typically begins before dawn. The pre-dawn tradition of J'ouvert may have roots in Caribbean folklore. For instance, there

832-575: A role in shaping J'ouvert. J'ouvert's is rooted in the history of Carnival in Trinidad. The French brought Carnival to Trinidad in the 1780s, a time of slavery . Their pre-lenten Carnival included hunting parties, dinners, balls , and masquerading . Enslaved Africans, who were banned from participating in Carnival, are said to have staged their own mini-carnivals, but using their own rituals and folklore and imitating or mocking their masters' masquerade balls. These immitation carnivals and mocking of

896-435: A soucouyant, it is believed one should heap rice around their house or at the village crossroads; the creature will be obligated to gather the rice, grain by grain, and be caught in the act. To destroy one, coarse salt must be placed in the mortar with the stripped-off skin so that she perishes, unable to put it back on. The skin of the soucouyant is considered valuable and is part of black magic rituals. Belief in soucouyants

960-509: A unifying and modernizing language, simultaneously denigrating the status of minority languages as bulwarks of feudalism, Church control of the state, and backwardness in general. In less than a year after coming to power (1792), the Committee for Public Instruction mandated that the newly-expanded public education be fortified by sending French-speaking teachers to areas that spoke other languages. This programme achieved many of its aims during

1024-547: Is a distinctive tradition of J'ouvert. This tradition was likely carried forward in remembrance of the Canboulay Riots. In 1884, the colonial government passed the Peace Preservation Act , which prohibited public carrying of torches, drumming, blowing horns, and stick-fighting (or the assembly of ten or more people with sticks). Many J'ouvert traditions may come from reactions to the prohibitions of

1088-623: Is a kind of shape-shifting , blood-sucking hag present in Caribbean folklore . The spirit has several regional names: The Soucouyant is a folklore character who appears as a reclusive old woman (or man) by day. By night, they strip off their wrinkled skin and put it in a mortar. In the form of a fireball , they fly across the dark sky in search of a victim. The Soucouyants can enter the home of their victim through any sized hole such as cracks and keyholes. Soucouyants suck humans' blood from their arms, necks, legs and other soft regions while

1152-501: Is a local Trinidadian legend about a soucouyant , who sheds her skin at night and consumes the blood of her victims. She must reenter her skin before dawn, but is unable to do so if someone sprinkles salt on her skin. According to legend, she will cry out " Jouvay, jou paka ouvay ?" ("Daybreak, are you coming?) as dawn approaches. J'ouvert traditionally begins between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. and continues until mid-morning. In The Bahamas , however, J'ouvert Bahamas begins at night and goes until

1216-604: Is also used to mean any of many cultural assimilation policies implemented by French authorities since the French Revolution . These aimed to impose or maintain the dominance of the French language and French culture. Before the Revolution, French was still a minority language in France by number of speakers, but was the prestige language. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts under King Francis I of France prescribed

1280-480: Is celebrated today with the use of whistles, cowbells, bottles, and home-made instruments. The Peace Preservation Act also established the official start of Carnival as 6:00 A.M. This likely explains the early-morning start time of J'ouvert. Canboulay had traditionally been a nighttime celebration, but after the Peace Preservation Act effectively banned Canboulay, Afro-Trinidadians began celebrating

1344-564: Is expected to quadruple, whereas the world population is predicted to grow by half. Africa has 32 French-speaking countries, more than half its total (53); French was also the most widely spoken language in Africa in 2015. However, Nigeria, the most populous country on the continent, is predominantly English speaking. The Francophone zone of Africa is two times the size of the United States of America (including Alaska). French

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1408-631: Is held each summer in Toronto , Ontario , and features a pre-dawn J'ouvert celebration. Unlike J'ouvert of the Caribbean, Toronto's J'ouvert often takes place at an outdoor venue rather than in the streets as a parade. The celebration usually features steelpan bands, other live music, DJs, as well as revelers using improvised musical instruments, whistles , and other music makers. Participants will occasionally cover themselves with mud, flour, baby powder , or paint. Some participants dress to resemble evil spirits, such as devils of different colors, including

1472-635: Is likely the origin of the Soucouyant as well as the Bahamian "Hag" have a strong connection to the Aje, or the witch of the Yoruba people. The Hag, which is similar to the Soucouyant, is very similar to the traditional definition of the Aje. Many Bahamians who descended from the Yoruba referred to old Congolese women as witches who shed their skins in the night and sucked human blood. This have many parallels to

1536-454: Is more popular while commercially publicized. J'ouvert uses the rebellious nature of powder, mud and oil, while Pretty Mas celebrates the abstract allure of glitter, colour and light. J'ouvert is often contrasted with Pretty Mas, in that J'ouvert is said to be for "the people" while Pretty Mas is intended for the establishment. Brooklyn is home to the largest West Indian population outside the Caribbean, and began its own Carnival celebration in

1600-429: Is referred to as the "pajama party parade," as people can join wearing comfortable, regular clothes rather than dressing up in costume. In many West Indian countries, J'ouvert is observed before the daytime Carnival Mas or "Pretty Mas". Pretty Mas is the Carnival parade featuring colorful costumes which are often made of feathers, beads, gem stones, brightly coloured fabrics, glitter and other elaborate body adornments and

1664-479: Is still preserved to an extent in Guyana, Suriname and some Caribbean islands, including Saint Lucia, Dominica, Haïti and Trinidad. Many Caribbean islands have plays about the soucouyant and many other folklore characters. Some of these include Trinidad, Grenada and Barbados. Soucouyants belong to a class of spirits called jumbies. Some believe that soucouyants were brought to the Caribbean from European countries in

1728-463: Is weak. The government also provides financial assistance for those who are unable to find employment because they are unable to speak French. Another aspect of francization in Quebec regards the quality of the French used in Quebec. The Quebec Office of the French language has, since its formation, undertaken to discourage anglicisms and to promote high standards of French-language education in schools. The francization programs have been considered

1792-678: The Maghreb region is occurring. However, as figures provided by the OIF for the Maghreb region were combined with those of the Middle East, the exact count for the Maghreb countries alone is not possible. In this larger region (Maghreb and Middle East), an increase from 10.47 million to 18 million people learning French was observed between 1992 and 2002. Consideration should be given to the number of French speakers in each country to get an idea of

1856-696: The Republic of Genoa to France in 1769 after the Treaty of Versailles . Italian was the official language of Corsica until 1859. Francization occurred in Corsica, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy. Shortly after the fall of the Ancien Régime , the new revolutionary government adopted a policy of promotion of French as

1920-479: The "Jab Jab". Gallicization Francization (in American English , Canadian English , and Oxford English ) or Francisation (in other British English ), also known as Frenchification , is the expansion of French language use—either through willful adoption or coercion—by more and more social groups who had not before used the language as a common means of expression in daily life. As

1984-723: The 19th century: by the 1860s, nearly 80% of the national population could speak French. After the Treaty of Turin was signed in 1860 between the Victor Emmanuel II and Napoleon III as a consequence of the Plombières Agreement , the County of Nice was ceded to France as a territorial reward for French assistance in the Second Italian War of Independence against Austria , which saw Lombardy united with Piedmont-Sardinia . The Italian language

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2048-486: The Bahamian Hag and Yoruba was made during the 19th century by Alfred Burdon Ellis in his book about the Yoruba published in 1894. But he associated it with the Yoruba spirit of nightmare, known as Shigidi. In Divining the self , Velma E Love describes the Aje as "a blood-sucking, wicked, dreadful cannibal who transforms herself into a bird at night and flies to distant places, to hold nocturnal meetings with her fellow witches." The Bahamian Hag as described by Clavel: "when

2112-544: The Brooklyn J'ouvert attracts tens of thousands Carnival enthusiasts. J'ouvert marks the start of London 's Notting Hill Carnival , one of the biggest street festivals in the world. The J'ouvert event typically starts at 6:00 a.m. and takes place in the streets of Notting Hill . Revelers cover themselves in colored powder, oil, or paint, and others dress in elaborate costumes. The celebration involves multiple hours of music and dancing. The Toronto Caribbean Carnival

2176-615: The French National Assembly to allow for immersive education in minority languages in state-run schools. The Assembly's decision was immediately contested by the French Constitutional Council , which struck out the parliament's vote. The Council also deemed unconstitutional the use of diacritical marks not used in French, such as the tilde in "ñ". In the last two centuries, Brussels transformed from an exclusively Dutch -speaking city to

2240-624: The French language in these countries is minor than before. England, and therefore the English language , was deeply francized during the Middle Ages . This was a result of the conquest of England by William the Conqueror from Normandy in 1066, a king who spoke exclusively French and imposed the French language in England. Old English became the language of the poor population and French

2304-491: The Italian surname "Bianchi" was francized into "Leblanc", and the Italian surname "Del Ponte" was francized into "Dupont"). By 1900, French had become the mother tongue of the majority of adults in France. Jules Ferry introduced free, compulsory education during the French Third Republic , and openly tried to strengthen the centralised state by instilling a French national identity in the population. French

2368-409: The Peace Preservation Act. For instance, tamboo bamboo was introduced in the late 1880s as substitute for the drums and sticks. Tamboo bamboo bands developed and became the primary percussion instrument of Carnival. Additional instruments were developed to replace the banned drums, and percussion was achieve through use of metal and other items as well. The history of J'ouvert's improvised instruments

2432-510: The Yoruba Aje with a few differences. Among the Yoruba, the Aje leaves her body and turns into an animal, but the Hag sheds her skin and turns into a ball of fire. Both the Hag and the Aje are associated with old women, leaving their bodies behind and sucking blood. Items of Folk-lore from Bahama Negroes , written by Clavel and published in 1904, describes the Bahamian version. The parallels of

2496-533: The decrease was caused by the fact that 93% of new immigrants to Quebec choose to settle in Montreal, with a corresponding rise in languages other than English and French. The government of Quebec estimates that, over the next 20 years, the Francophone proportion of Montreal will go back up. But those estimations seem to underestimate the francization of Montreal for some experts, because statistics show that

2560-586: The early hours of the morning. In some West Indian countries, J'ouvert is celebrated on Emancipation Day (the first day of August). In Trinidad, J'ouvert takes place on Carnival Monday, which in Trinidad is the Monday morning before Ash Wednesday . Other islands celebrate J'ouvert on Carnival Monday as well, the date of which depends on their island's Carnival dates . Participants follow and dance behind trucks or tractor-trailers , which play music from speakers or have live music. In Trinida, Grenada , and Antigua ,

2624-419: The effects of Quebec francophone out-migration. Interprovincial migration , especially to Ontario, results in a net loss of population in Quebec. The number of French-speaking Quebecers leaving the province tends to be similar to the number entering, while immigrants to Quebec tend to leave. None of the Quebec statistics are adjusted to compensate for the percentage—approximately 20%—of Anglophones who departed

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2688-590: The form of French vampire-myths. These beliefs intermingled with those of enslaved Africans. In the French West Indies , specifically the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and also in Suriname, the Soukougnan or Soukounian is a person able to shed his or her skin to turn into a vampiric fireball. In general, these figures can be of any gender and age. The term "Loogaroo" also used to describe

2752-538: The importance the French language holds in African as a second language. Many African countries without French as an official language have recently joined the OIF : The French language currently plays an important role in Africa, serving more and more as a common language or mother tongue (in Gabon, Ivory Coast, Congo, Cameroon and Benin in particular). The African Academy of Languages was established in 2001 to manage

2816-508: The language of the court and wealthy population. It is said that during this period, people in England spoke more French than those in France. Today, it is estimated that 50% to 60% of the English language comes from French or Latin. Cookery gives a good example of this tendency: the names of many farm animals have Anglo-Saxon roots. However, the names of their meat (once exclusive to the wealthy) have Old French origins: "Francization"

2880-708: The late 1960s. Organized by the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA), the West Indian Day Parade is held annually on Labor Day Monday. The event attracts millions of participants who parade down central Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway . An early morning J'ouvert component was added to the celebration in the 1990s when steel pan player Earl King and community organizer Yvette Rennie formed J'ouvert City International. Featuring traditional steelbands (DJs and sound systems prohibited) and ole mas costumes,

2944-598: The linguistic heritage. Francophone African countries counted 370 million inhabitants in 2014. This number is expected to reach between 700 and 750 million by 2050. There are already more francophones in Africa than in Europe . Vietnam , Cambodia and Laos were once part of French Indochina , part of the French Empire. French culture, in aspects of architecture, culinary and linguistics, has been integrated into

3008-401: The local ones, although the latter remained highly distinct. French used to be the official language and was considerably popular and influential in these colonies, but after they were decolonised and gained independence, the new governments generally removed its influence, by implementing the native language as the only official language in the newly independent states. Currently, the presence of

3072-664: The number of monolingual French-speakers carried the day over the (mostly) bilingual Flemish inhabitants. Only since the 1960s, after the fixation of the Belgian language border and the socio-economic development of Flanders was in full effect, could Dutch stem the tide of increasing French use. The francization of the Flemish periphery around Brussels still continues because of the continued immigration of French speakers coming from Wallonia and Brussels. The Government of Quebec has francization policies intended to establish French as

3136-557: The number of people who usually speak French to the total number of people in the minority language group. See Calvin Veltman 's Language Shift in the United States (1983) for a discussion. There are many examples of francization in history and popular culture: The same exists for other languages, for example, English, in which case objects or persons can be anglicized . Soucouyant A soucouyant , among other names,

3200-440: The official use of the French language, the langue d'oïl dialect spoken at the time in the Île-de-France , in all documents. Other languages, such as Occitan, began to disappear as written languages. With the decline of Latin, French became increasingly important for writing. Often, people were encouraged or compelled to adopt French, thereby developing a French identity at the expense of their existing one. Use of other languages

3264-477: The primary language of business and commerce. All businesses are required to provide written communications and schedules in French, and may not make knowledge of a language other than French a condition of hiring unless this is justified by the nature of the duties. Businesses with more than fifty employees are required to register with the Quebec Office of the French language in order to become eligible for

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3328-473: The proportion has already risen from 55.6% (1996) to 56.4% (2001). The success of francization of Quebec can also be seen over the borders of its territory: in Ontario, the proportion of English speakers dropped from 70.5% in 2001 to 68% in 2006, while the proportion of French speakers went up from 4.06% (488 815) in 2006 to 4.80% (580 000) in 2009. However, this statistic must be examined in conjunction with

3392-527: The province by the mid-1980s as a consequence of linguistic nationalism. By 2001, over 60% of the 1971 population of Quebec Anglophones had left the province. The Charter of the French Language has been a complete success, according to Hervé Lavenir de Buffon (general secretary of the « Comité international pour le français, langue européenne »), who said in 2006: "Before Bill 101, Montreal looked like an American city. Now Montreal looks like

3456-657: The ruling class likely gave rise to J'ouvert traditions, as parodying of the upper class is an important aspect of J'ouvert tradition. Alternatively, J'ouvert masquerading traditions may come from directly a French Carnival tradition that took the form of "after-dinner raids on private homes". Friendly raiders would disguise themselves in humorous costumes that were often topical, parodying political or social events, and would remain disguised until their identities were guessed correctly. Costumes with political and social commentary are still seen in J'ouvert today. Before Emancipation, enslaved Africans in Trinidad had celebrated Canboulay,

3520-491: The same period. In 1971, only 14.6% of allophone students were studying in a french school. In 2012, that number had reached 87.5% Montreal is a particular interesting case because, unlike the rest of Quebec, the French-speaking proportion of the population diminished. However, this does not mean that the francization programmes failed, as the share of English speakers diminished as well; it seems more likely that

3584-601: The soucouyant, possibly comes from the French word for werewolf: Loup-garou ; often confused with each other since they are pronounced the same. In Haiti, what would be considered a werewolf , is called jé-rouges ("red eyes"). As in Haiti, the Loogaroo is also common in Mauritian culture . With the passage of time and gradual changes in the story, the soucouyant is no longer exclusively described as an elderly woman. It

3648-597: The state to act if the rights enshrined in the charter are recognised. Initiatives to encourage the use of minority languages are limited by the refusal of the French Government to recognize them, on the basis of the French Constitution, which states that "The language of the Republic of France is French". This view was upheld in 2021, when Deputy Paul Molac unexpectedly won a majority vote in

3712-421: The victim sleeps, leaving black and blue marks on the body in the morning. If the soucouyant draws too much blood, it is believed that the victim will either die and become a soucouyant or perish entirely, leaving the killer to assume their skin. The soucouyant practices black magic . Soucouyants trade their victims' blood for evil powers with Bazil , the demon who resides in the silk cotton tree . To expose

3776-514: The world has been rising substantially since the 1980s. In 1985, there were 106 million Francophones around the world. That number quickly rose to 173.2 million in 1997, 200 million in 2005, 220 million in 2010 (+10% from 2007). and reached 274 million in 2014. Forecasts expect that the number of French speakers in Africa alone will reach 400 million in 2025, 715 million (readjusted in 2010) by 2050 and reach 1 billion and 222 million in 2060 (readjusted in 2013). The worldwide French-speaking population

3840-535: Was declared constitutionally to be the language of the French Republic. In 1998, France became a signatory of the European Charter on Minority Languages ; however, it has yet to ratify it, with general agreement among the political class that supportive measures are neither popular enough to attract wide support nor banal enough to be uncontroversial, with concerns specifically about courts forcing

3904-441: Was introduced in Africa by France and Belgium during the colonial period. The process of francization continued after the colonial period. French became the most spoken language in Africa after Arabic and Swahili in 2010. The number of speakers changed very rapidly between 1992 and 2002, with the number of French learners in sub-Saharan Africa increasing by 60.37%, from 22.33 million to 34.56 million people. A similar trend in

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3968-769: Was often suppressed. This occurred, for example, among the Alemannic -speaking inhabitants of Alsace and the Lorraine Franconian -speaking inhabitants of Lorraine after these regions were conquered by Louis XIV during the seventeenth century, to the Flemings in French Flanders , to the Occitans in Occitania , and to Basques , Bretons , Catalans , Corsicans and Niçards . Corsica passed from

4032-403: Was presented as the language of modernity, as opposed to regional languages such as Breton or Basque , labelled as barbaric or tribal. Pupils caught speaking these languages were punished by making them display tokens of shame. In Occitan-speaking areas that school policy was called the vergonha . Historically, no official language was recognized by the French Constitution. In 1994, French

4096-674: Was the official language of the County of Nice, used by the Church, at the town hall, taught in schools, used in theaters and at the Opera, was immediately abolished and replaced by French. The French government implemented a policy of Francization of society, language and culture of the County of Nice. The toponyms of the communes of the ancient County have been francized, with the obligation to use French in Nice, as well as certain surnames (for example

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