Bahamian Family Life as Depicted by Wives Tales and Other Old Sayings

Abstract

Proverbs, stories, and wives' tales have been used to teach, entertain and impart important cultural information for generations. For this paper, two colleagues and the author conducted ethnographic interviews with native Bahamians, primarily those residing on the family islands of Eleuthera and Harbour Island. They asked 56 informants, teenagers to octogenarians, to recall old sayings or tales which have been passed on to them over the years. Several hundred such sayings were recorded verbatim on tapes and in fieldnotes. Transcripts were analyzed to learn how Bahamian family life is depicted in wives' tales, proverbs, and other old sayings