Cape Verde "An Archipelago of 10 Volcanic Islands"

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Tabanka

In June the Tabanka, the feast day preceding St John’s day is held on Santiago and Maio. Tabanka means village in Guinea-Bissau. In Cape Verde, or more specifically Santiago island, it is a half religious, half social organisation, with participants basically among the poorest part of the population, a reminiscence of its origin among the slaves that were imported from the coast of West Africa.

A tabanka is like a theatre, with the acts being played out over a period of more or less a month, starting in June. The tabanka includes the stealing of a saint, from the heavily guarded (with wooden guns!) "capela do santo", or the saint´s chapel, on a night with batuku dancing, and ends with recapturing it and catching the thieves. This is of course celebrated, with processions, dance, music and lots of good Grogue - the local sugar cane based beverage.