Minella’s thoughts and articles

Telling about Seychelles, involuntarily you get off on language of the tourist prospectuses advertising this or that heavenly spot: it is dazzling the white beaches washed by tender waves in which motley small fishes lap; the violent thickets overflowed with paradise birds; the hospitable natives incessantly dancing something incendiary …

All it, certainly, is presented and on Seychelles - granite-coral archipelago in Indian ocean at southeast coast of Africa. Also it is presented, maybe, even more magnificently, than on the next Maldives or, say, on the far Bahamas and the Bermudas. Seychelles - absolutely especial place, unique not only the flora and fauna, but also an unimaginable civilized-cultural cocktail and surprising harmony between the nature and the person.

Seychelles cocktail
I can not be kept from a number of comparisons with located in the same region Maldive Islands. So, on Seychelles tourists appear at once in a thick of the good-natured and affable Seychelles people. On Maldives the local population is not less affable and good-natured, only here tourists rather seldom adjoin to it. The matter is that the Maldivian authorities develop mass foreign tourism within the limits of officially proclaimed policy of "prevention of the cultural conflict". What can be "the cultural conflict"? And such: Maldives - the country Muslim, norms of Islam, as it is known, are no means always combined with free customs of foreign tourists. Therefore, to avoid misunderstanding, the Maldivian government has allocated for tourists about 100 desert islands and has constructed there everything that is necessary for smart rest. As a result tourists can relax as want, without disturbing and without shocking local population which in these original tourist "reservations" is few (except for the limited contingent of the housekeeping staff).

On Seychelles "the cultural conflict" cannot be by definition. After all the Seychelles people are a fruit of surprising synthesis of various races and blood - Arabs, Portugueses, the French and British colonists, Africans-bows,  Indians, Malayans, Chineses. On Seychelles any ethnic combinations in which result there were Creole people of archipelago were possible. Here there are Creoles of the French origin, Creoles of the British roots, Creoles of the Chinese and Indian blood, and also mulatto and malabar Creoles - all of them are united by Creole language (on the basis of French), strong feeling of a national generality and Catholic religion. Over 90 % of the population profess Christianity, in overwhelming majority Catholicism, presence of Anglican church is appreciable, other Protestant currents are presented also. Moslems, hinduists and Buddhists too are, but in obvious minority. Besides Creole state languages are still English and French. Clearly that such ethnocultural ????? has initially predetermined the raised tolerance to the most scandalous displays from outside visitors.

"The Seychelles mash" has generated amazing culture, syncretic, but at the same time is unique original lines of many civilizations very unlike against each other combining in. For an illustration it is possible to result Alec Voga’s magnificent statement about Seychelles women: "In Seychelles women enough French to have a good figure, English to differ good manners, Asian to be exotic, and African to conceal in itself charm of savageries".

And what miracle - Seychelles music! It combines, apparently, incongruous - music of slaveholders and music of slaves. The French minuets and kontrdances co-exist with mad African rhythms of dance "a ditch sega"  which dance under palm trees by the light of a fire. In violent drumbeat the jingling of an iron triangle, string search of a guitar and rhythmical sounds from stirring of the drawn coconuts with rattling grains inside is intertwined.

The Seychelles kitchen which has incorporated components of the most various culinary cultures (French, English, Indian, Chinese), but "welded" them in own way is not less wonderful. A basis of Seychelles viands - rice and seafood which prepare with spices, vegetables and fruit. (Here one bananas over 15 kinds, and still a mango, kiwi, nuts, avocado, citron.) the most popular dish - fish with rice (pwason ek diri), but tourists, certainly, foods involve much more exotic: soup from an octopus, a breadfruit tree fruit, shatiny from a shark or a stewed banana. Submit even a ragout from a bat, but it for fans of a gastronomic extreme. Among local drinks are well-known dite zitronel - tincture of lemon mint, "kalu" - the fermented coconut juice reminding young wine, "bakka" - fermented juice of a sugar cane, local beer "Sejrbju". Excellent wines from the republic of South Africa - the main trading partner of the island state are popular also.