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Culture & Identity of St. Lucia

Introduction

St. Lucian Culture - Laid back lifestyle
Laid back lifestyle

Life in St. Lucia is relaxed as time seems to take a back seat to the current conversation. Life in St. Lucia is about people, it's about family, and it's about community, not about work or money. However, jobs provide the people with the money to support their families so work is necessary for most people and takes up a substantial part of the day for many people.

Over two-thirds of the people in St. Lucia live in more rural areas, many of whom have jobs in agriculture or tourism. For the people working in agriculture many live a life based on the seasons, the weather, and the sun. However, farming is often times a family affair and sometimes even a community affair.

Jobs in tourism tend to pay better, but the hours can be sporadic. These jobs, and others in the services sector, do tend to give many people a routine with work, but again work is only important to most people in that it helps them support their families and lifestyle.

For most people with a regular working schedule the work day runs from about 8:30 am to about 4:30 pm, often times with a short lunch break. Some people work Saturdays, but for many people evenings and weekends are time to spend with loved ones. For many people Sundays are also a time to attend church. During these free times there are various ways the people enjoy life, but most of it comes in some form of socialization.

Identity

St. Lucia is still trying to discover who they are, but the people do seem to have an identity in name. The people tend to identify as being citizens of St. Lucia, which is obviously a politically-based identity that includes all citizens. Beyond this nationalistic definition of the identity, the people seem to want this identity to have more depth and meaning, trying to make cultural aspects of the island a part of this identity. In this way, the definition of what it means to be a St. Lucian is ever-evolving as the people try to pin point what it means to be a St. Lucian. As a country divided by class, color, past, and economic standing, the people can't seem to find a common definition to define "St. Lucian" other than citizenship. Many want to define this identity in more specific terms, such as by race or history, but these narrow definitions often exclude more citizens than they include.

This page was last updated: May, 2014