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IN LIMBO: Plantation Life


By Adriana Murray



The Folklore is Our Culture
After having sat down with prolific writer and historian Trevor Marshall I quickly came to grips with how pertinent aspects of our culture reflect our journey post slavery and undoubtedly pre slavery. Let’s take the limbo dance…the dance is often demonstrated at carnival and cultural events.

Let’s take the old “plantation” show and more recently the Harbour Lights Dinner Show…the limbo dance a fun and exciting dance routine. However on the decks of the ships slaves were forced to display their athletic ability and agility by back bending and fitting their body under the ‘limbo’ stick.



  1. The Oxford Dictionary defines folklore the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.
  2. Historian Trevor Marshall stated that folklore means what has been retained by a particular folk.



The Limbo of Folklore 
The limbo dance origins are tied to Trinidad but has been become a staple of Caribbean dance and culture. The dancer is expected to maneuverer under the stick without touching or dislodging the stick each the time the bar is lowered the dancer must be agile enough to make it under the bar without dislodging it. 
Let’s take the word “limbo” truly the word denotes the fate of the slaves on this perilous journey to the Caribbean facing the firm and tumultuous grip of the masters surely there they reached land alive or dead their lives were in limbo. 
Ironically the noun limbo has a dual meaning…firstly Oxford Dictionary defines limbo as the supposed abode of the souls of unbaptized infants, and of the just who died before Christ's coming (in some Christian beliefs).
Secondly the Oxford Dictionary defines limbo as an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition.
Let’s talk the colonizers bringing with them the “true” religion now if we are discussing the term limbo for our purposes the Africans were surely in limbo spiritually and certainly physically. 
The dance itself ascertains its own relentless punishments, if slave were deemed unfit for labour

They were punishable by death, thrown overboard to the sharks which followed the slave boats in search of a bloody satisfying meal. 
The dance which took the form of a physical strength test seemed to be purely entertainment for the supremacist sailors.
Truly its origins are far from charming….

                                                                                                          (Short Version)
This video does not belong to me

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