Power of plants in traditional Tobago yards

Dr Rita Pemberton  -
Dr Rita Pemberton -

DR RITA PEMBERTON

The relentless economic challenges which beset Tobago from 1838 most affected the African population which constituted the island’s work force.

Faced with a stream of consistently unsympathetic administrations for 124 years, the working population turned to survival strategies which were carved in their agricultural traditions and the pre-emancipation practices developed on the island. Access to land was therefore one very important factor which determined the quality of life of the island’s working population.

During that period some workers became landowners, while others gained access through various tenancy arrangements. Although the central aim was to own a space to establish a garden some distance away from their homes, it was considered essential to have land space around the house, commonly referred to as “the yard,” on which to cultivate core essential items.

More than an element of the island’s agriculture, the Tobago yard constitutes an important feature of the island’s culture and heritage.

Regardless of its size, the yard reflected the agrarian nature of the society and it provided four specific functions – the provision of food, medicine, aesthetics and spiritual support. A range of plants which served the essential needs of the household were cultivated in the yard, making it possible for the family to prepare meals quickly. Where space was limited, empty paint and cooking oil cans, biscuit tins, buckets or other containers were repurposed as planters for container gardening.

Because of the prevalence of low wages on the island, it was important to produce as much food as possible. Most individuals sought to reduce the costs of food by planting gardens and supplementing that with growing herbs and other food items around the yard. These herbs gave the island’s traditional food its distinctive character.

The food culture emphasised freshness of food, straight from the earth or tree to the pot. These included hot, pimento and bird peppers; a variety of thyme – small-leaf, fine and broad-leaf (French); chive; celery; ginger; and roucou for colouring food; vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers, ochroes and pumpkin; cassava; pigeon peas; corn; quick-bearing sweet potatoes; banana suckers.

The drain which carried household waste water would be lined with dasheen plants and tree plants such as breadfruit, lime, lemon and coconut, as well as fruit trees.

Specifically for the animals, a variety of grass was cultivated to feed cows, and gliricidia (glory cedar) was planted as hedges to feed goats.

The yard also served as the resident pharmacy. Parents and the community herbalist diagnosed illnesses and the medication was readily and cheaply obtained from the yard. Official reports are replete with complaints about the unwillingness of the island’s African population to avail itself of the services of the doctors there and their preference for bush medicine. The truth was that the cost of medical attention and the prescribed medicines was prohibitive.

An array of medicinal herbs which could be used to treat a range of ailment were found in most yards. For common illnesses in children there was worm grass, fever grass, soursop leaves for insomnia, guava leaves for diarrhoea; chandelier, Christmas bush, broad-leaf thyme and sorrow seed for colds and flu.

For adults there was dried maugh faugh baugh (a variety of banana) leaves, breadfruit leaves, and papaw for diabetes and blood pressure problems, grater wood bush and shame bush for dysentery and prostrate problems.

There were the cure-for-all herbs such as aloes for healing and cleansing; wonder of the world for earache; and seed under the leaf and mint used individually or in combination with other herbs to treat a number of ailments. Some food plants were also used for medicinal purposes. For example, bird peppers were used to treat gas pains; roucou, and broad-leaf thyme were used for colds, and fit weed (chadon beni) was used to treat colds and epilepsy.

It was believed that some illnesses were the result of a need for body and blood coolants, in which case the “cooling” medication vervine was used.

Additionally, the leaves of many of these herbs were used in baths for post-partum healing and to treat skin afflictions.

Regardless of the size of the home, the front yard was always adorned with flowering plants. These included bougainvillea, hibiscus, ixoras, crotons, queen of flowers, wedding fern, palms and poinsettia. These plants and flowers were also used for decorating churches, venues for weddings and other celebratory functions, and wreaths for funerals.

Plants were believed to have protective powers and were kept to keep away evil forces from the property and garden. These included the red rio or boundary plant, sansevieria or mother-in-law tongue, crown of thorns and other spiny plants.

Some plants were placed in particular positions to more effectively perform their roles. Caladium of physic nut plants were usually placed on the front step of the house or at the front entrance to the yard. Green dracaena plants were used to demarcate either the front or back boundary of the property, as well as to protect the property from the infiltration of evil forces. Some plants in the garden were used to protect the garden from negative forces which could induce poor crop yields. For example, the sword bean protected pigeon peas from “peas maljo” manifested by malformed pods.

These yard practices facilitated the maintenance of traditions and, for the struggling Tobago population, the yard and the plants it sustained served as an empowering resource during the period when the problems of the community failed to stimulate any remedial response from the existing administration.

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"Power of plants in traditional Tobago yards"

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