The Growth of a Tradition – THE RIVER LIME

Historically the people of Trinidad and Tobago can be traced to originate from the Caribs and Arawaks the Europeans, Africans, French, Dutch, Spanish Chinese and Indians to name a few, these occupations were related to specific times in its history, but despite the time and reason for the introduction of the different people, today the country bear the influences of the different peoples, in attempting to develop their future.

The influence is in song, dance, food, recreation, among others.

The river lime is one such activity which originated with the Caribs and Arawak’s. The river was used as a source of food where the fresh water fishes, that is, those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 0.05% e.g. the Cacadu and Cuscurub.

These and others were  trapped using different methods of trapping which were know at the point in time.

 The Carib and Arawak river lime started  as an endeavor to find food for the family , fishing rods , fishing nets , bows and arrows, fish pots, “bailing water holes”  they all were popular at different times in history. They were only practiced by men, as the years went by it became a family tradition. The Indian and Africans descendants who were mainly classified as the labour force also looked at the rivers as a source of food to subsidize what was available to them. They also used trapping, some of which were influenced from their land of birth and some learnt by other descendants of other origins the Caribs and Arawak’s included.

Today a river lime may include catching fish and making a cook, although they may still be individuals seeing the rivers as a source of food. The river still create an environment where family and friends can get together and share a traditional lime.