**Thread on Straw Plaiting in The Bahamas**

The modern straw plaiting industry in The Bahamas is believed to have gotten its start as a result of slavery.

African slaves, when forcibly removed from their homes as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, brought their traditions from the continent to the New World.

Though, some evidence suggests that apart from the African slaves in The Bahamas, straw plaiting was also practised several 100 years prior by the indigenous Bahamian people, the Lucayans, who used the technique to create baskets, as well as clothing and head coverings.

When the Loyalists arrived to The Bahamas from the United States in the late 1700s, the straw plaiting technique & culture ultimately became something that would go on to become an ineffaceable aspect of Bahamian identity, especially for those on the family islands.

The Loyalists brought w/ them many slaves who introduced straw plaiting techniques from areas like the Gullah Islands of Carolina, a US region, that has many cultural ties with The Bahamas today.

Their style used to create baskets & coiled fanners (a sifter) exists here today.

But what exactly is straw plaiting?

When a Bahamian says ‘straw’, it's actually a colloquial term that refers to strips of the dried leaves of many varieties of palms & other plants that grow wild on every island in The Bahamas.

So it's not the actual stalks of dried straw.

Three of the most used sources of straw are the coconut palm, the silver palm, and the sisal plant.

The new leaves are removed from the plants without harming them, dried, their fibres separated and then left in 'straw' strips suitable for plaiting or weaving.

The 'straw' then becomes ‘straw work’ when it is woven or plaited using a myriad of patterns or techniques.

The styles of plaiting are very unique to The Bahamas & in total, there are almost 200 straw plaiting techniques with each style having a unique name to describe them.

Some names are references to various things linked to Bahamian identity.

Some names include Bahama Mama, Fish Gill, Peas n' Rice, Spider's Web and Soursop.

Straw plaiting is particularly culturally linked to the family islands of The Bahamas w/ those islands having patterns unique them and even unique to some of the individual settlements found on those islands.

In particular, this is seen on the islands of Andros & Long Island.

In the 1800s, ~200 black Seminole Indians fled Florida & escaped to The Bahamas to avoid re-enslavement in the US.

They founded two communities. One on the island of Andros, Red Bays, which remains today & another in the Berry Islands.

(Descendant of Seminole Indians, Andros)

Red Bays, Andros is unique for a few reasons.

For starters, it was founded by Seminole Indians. It is also the only settlement found on the western side of the island of Andros, the Caribbean's 5th largest island.

Straw plaiters here are renown, especially for their basketry.

The straw is so tightly woven in the baskets made by the Bahamians in Red Bays, that water cannot leak through them.

On Long Island, the African slaves introduced straw plaiting there & they created unique techniques.

The settlement of Simms, the oldest settlement in North Long Island, is renown for its brilliant designs and for being a pioneer in family island mass production of straw work.

In particular, Ivy Simms, a descendent of the original Simms family after whom the settlement is named, who became a fine plait weaver went on to establish a straw work 'factory' on the island.

Her knowledge & techniques were passed to those willing to learn.

Ivy had the Bahamian straw work, which included items such as handbags, exported & even gifted straw work to Queen Elizabeth II ( @RoyalFamily) during one of her visits to The Bahamas.

The factory is now the Simms Burial Society Hall.

(Former employee in Simms creating handbag)

Well before Ivy Simms of Long Island, the wife of former governor of The Bahamas, Penelope Phenny, fell in love with the straw work of Bahamians and created a local market for the sale of straw work, thus creating the straw work industry in The Bahamas in the 18th Century.

Following this, Mrs. Phenny began marketing the work internationally and had the straw work exported to Bermuda for sale.

The industry, however, suffered a decline for a while, after the Phennys left The Bahamas.

In the 1860s, straw work could be seen sold to tourists, but there were no true long-term effects.

Though, Eunice Brown can be credited for forging the current link between the straw work industry & tourism when she began selling her work to tourists in 1936.

When Eunice, a native of Fox Hill, New Providence, began selling her products this resulted in a larger demand for straw & straw work. Bahamians in the Out Islands of The Bahamas began contributing to the demand.

Thus, the link between straw work & tourism became solidified.

Out Islanders would collect straw & weave the plait to send to Nassau where popular items were mass-produced in factories 'Over the Hill' for sale at specialised stalls or produce crafts themselves to send to Nassau for sale at the stalls used for selling straw crafts downtown.

In 2015, Eunice was among many other 'historic' Bahamians & establishments awarded at Christ Church Cathedral, Nassau, The Bahamas to celebrate the anniversary of the designation of Christ Church as Cathedral of The Bahamas and Nassau as a city in The Bahamas.

During the mid-1900s, the collection of straw stalls in downtown Nassau had become such an attraction for tourists it had sometimes been referred to as the 'Gateway to the City'.

However, tragedy struck in 1974 when the straw market place was completely destroyed in a fire.

Another fire in 2001 also saw the destruction of the straw market in Nassau along with other historic buildings.

The straw market would go 10 years before it would have a permanent home again in downtown Nassau.

In 2011, a modern straw market building was opened by the Prime Minister, just a few months after yet another fire had destroyed the tent that was, for years, the temporary home of the straw market along with the historic Vendue House, where slaves were sold in Nassau.

Straw weavers who, many years ago, would have to remain up throughout the entire night with the light of fires or kerosene lamps to perfect their craft & only stayed up through the Bahamian art of storytelling, were now soundly rooted in modernity and the 21st century.

Today, one of the biggest challenges that the straw industry faces in The Bahamas is brought on by natural disasters.

While straw plaiting in done on every island, routinely, the plants used in straw work are left dead and unusable in the aftermath of hurricanes.

Despite that, Bahamians have shown and continue to show ingenuity in the products made by plaiting straw.

From hats, mats, dolls, bags, shoes, passport holders, wall pieces, luggage, and costumes for junkanoo straw work finds itself present in a plethora of finished products.

One person, in modern times, especially known for their creativity with straw work is the now-deceased Harl Taylor.

Taylor was a fine trained fashion designer who is credited for creating 'straw couture' which was a first for the straw work industry.

The creativity between island communities resulting in the handmade straw work, produced by a wide cross-section of Bahamians, is today just one of the physical manifestations of the creativity & ingenuity of the people of The Bahamas.