Liberia is a country located on the west coast of Africa. The country’s landscape mainly plateau covered by dense tropical rainforest is graced by the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean.
The small country with a population of about 4 million people (2008 census) was founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society (ACS) and settled by freed slaves from America. The freed slaves who structured everything about Liberia similar to the United States of America declared the country independence in 1847. Prior to the slaves settling in Liberia there were sixteen indigenous tribes already living in the region. These 16 tribes are divided into three languages groups:
- Mel language group-Include Gola and Kissi.
- Kru language group- Include Bassa, Belle, Dei, Grebo, Krahn, Kru.
- Mande language group-Include Bandi, Gid, Kpelle (Pelle), Loma, Mandigo, Mano, Mende, Vai.
In modern day Liberia, apart from the sixteen languages named above, English is widely spoken and it is the country’s official language used as the language of instruction in institutions of learning. English was brought and taught to the indigenous people by freed people of color from North America. Kpelle (Pelle) is the largest group of people in Liberia and the language pending to be adopted as a traditional one. The sixteen different tribes are strategically settled in the fifteen counties of the nation. Each of these tribes has its own cultural and traditional practices and foods that symbolize the type of language group to which it belongs. Despite this, there are some general traditional believes and values that are shared by people across the country. For example, “shaking hands for a little longer time than any normal hand shake and sounding the fingers afterwards is a country-wide practice.”
Culture and Tradition
In present day Liberia because of the western way of life and the strong desire of the younger generation of becoming American or living the American way of life, the traditional African culture that you counter the movement you enter other African countries is hardly noticeable at the first point of entry into Liberia. Nevertheless, the sixteen tribes still maintain some strong cultural and traditional values.
Traditional weddings are still being held. A couple of the tribes including the Kpelle people practice a form of traditional school system for boys and girls called the Poro society- for boys and the Sande society for girls. In these schools, boys and girls are primarily taught about societal values, manners and issues related to taking care of their home when they grow up. Nowadays, the infamous female genital mutilations practice by the Sande society has caught global concerns and the practice itself is no longer of any interest of parents and guardians.
In the remote Villages and urban areas as well music and dance form an integral part of life. Villagers often sing and dance at funerals, weddings, on behalf of a visitor, while working, and at times just for fun. Popular Liberian dances include Vai dance, Kpelle dance, Kru dance, Bassa dance and Gio dance.
Food
The staple food in Liberia is rice. There is a popular joke among Liberians that if a Liberian says that he/she has not eaten anything the whole day it means that he/she has not eaten rice, but she/she may have eaten some other foods. Rice is served with varieties of stews. Some of the most popular Liberian stews that you cannot give up eating them every day include: Palmbutter soup- a soup made from palm nuts (seeds), Potatoes Greens- made from potatoes leaf, Palava Sauce- made from a type of slippery green, Torbogee- a type of soup widely known for its soda content, Pepper Soup- made of meat, fish and peppers, Cassava Leaf- made from the leafs of cassava plant. Besides these foods others are also available. Food such as jolof rice, fried rice, fufu, dumboy, plantains, bananas, eddoes, sweet potatoes and beans can be found in many family homes as well…
By Sam Sumo
Master in Production Management Student
Blog Collaborator
voyconbeca.com 