The Florida Folklife Reader

Folklife of Miami’s Nicaraguan Communities

50 ‘’ ‘’ Folklife of Miami’s Nicaraguan Communities katherine Borland the nicaragUan coMMUnity in MiaMi is coMPrised of three distinct culture groups: the Creole peoples of the southern Atlantic coast, the Miskito population of the Rio Coco and Puerto Cabezas area, and the Mestizos of the Pacific coast. These communities do not have much contact across cultural lines. No overall Nicaraguan cultural organization unites them, and, though they share some foodways, their cultural heritages are quite distinct. The Creole population is perhaps the oldest Nicaraguan population in Miami. Most are professionals—nurses, teachers, accountants—and many came to study in the United States as early as the 1950s. Others have worked on ships that have taken them around the world. Like other Caribbean rim populations, they are a mixed-race people. Their sense of independence and separateness from the Pacific coast Nicaraguans is well described in A. Sambola (1984). English-speaking Creoles find it relatively easy to adjust to North American culture, as historically, American influence through trade and missionary work has been long standing. Institutions like baseball, Boy Scouts, and Girl Guides1 constituted an established part of Atlantic coast town life by the 1930s. In Miami, the population is concentrated around the Moravian Prince of Peace Church in Carol City, and scattered through the Jamaican and Spanish Nicaraguan neighborhoods of the west and southwest. For churchgoers, the Moravian church provides a strong unifying influence. Non-churchgoers gather to drink and socialize at the ball fields around the Carol City 51 Folklife of Miami’s Nicaraguan Communities neighborhood on Sundays. Yet, Bluefieldians, regardless of their religion, know one another and keep in touch in Miami. The Miskito population is estimated to be from 3,000 to 5,000. Some are professionals, but most have found work as janitors, cleaning women, and guards in Miami hotels. Miskito families are concentrated in particular apartment complexes throughout Miami Beach and Miami Shores. Although an indigenous people of Nicaragua, they are typically of mixed blood and quite westernized in their living habits. Many of their traditional cultural practices were supplanted decades ago by Moravian and other missionary church traditions. As Mary Helms points out (1971), ever since their first contact with Europeans, Miskitos have engaged with cultural outsiders, trading their labor for foreign goods or wages in a variety of commercial ventures. Their most binding cultural traits are a common language and the Moravian religion. While Miskito people expressed no strong political views, they are generally bitter about the Sandinista and Somoza “Spanish” exploitation and destruction of their Atlantic coast communities. The Contra War severely affected the Miskito community and forms an important reference for many of the young men who fought in it. Jorge Jenkins Molieri (1986) gives an excellent history from the Sandinista point of view of the “Spanish” and other foreign incursions in the life of Miskito communities. Enerio Danny tells an unfortunately typical story. In the late 1970s he worked with the Sandinista indigenous movement, Misurasata, and served in the Literacy Crusade in Miskito. Increasingly suspicious of Sandinista policies, he eventually joined a Contra military band. He now expresses disillusionment with the Miskito leaders, who drew a peace-loving people into armed conflict but subsequently failed to honor promises to promote community improvements. The Pacific coast population, the largest in Miami, has been reported as high as 400,000 (Estrella de Nicaragua, November 30, 1991). It is concentrated in the middle- and upper-class neighborhood of Sweetwater and in the more working-class areas of Little Havana and Hialeah. Most cultural organizations are run by professionals and business owners, as working-class people generally complain that the demanding American work schedule prevents them from participating in cultural activities. Married women voice particular frustration at being isolated in their homes by husbands who resist their attempts to establish new contacts or join outside activities. Most Pacific coast Nicaraguans arrived in the years after the revolution of 1979. Nevertheless, they have already made a definite mark on the city. 52 katherine Borland Primary genres of Nicaraguan folklife in Miami include music, patronal festivals, Moravian church celebrations, and foodways. Material culture traditions outside the festival context have generally become latent as craftspeople enter new lines of work. Patronal festivals Nicaragua is a predominantly Catholic country. Patronal festivals for each town constitute the major folk expression of this religiousness and provide a context for artistic practices of all kinds, as well as for...