St. Kitts & Nevis Culture

Culture

Main article: Culture of St. Kitts and NevisSee also: Music of Saint Kitts and Nevis, J’ouvert, and Saint Kitts Creole

Languages

English is the sole official language. Saint Kitts Creole is also widely spoken.

Music and festivals

The Mongoose Play, a popular production of folk theatre and music

Saint Kitts and Nevis are known for a number of musical celebrations including Carnival (18 December to 3 January on Saint Kitts). The last week in June features the St Kitts Music Festival, while the week-long Culturama on Nevis lasts from the end of July into early August.

Additional festivals on the island of Saint Kitts include Inner City Fest, in February in Molineaux; Green Valley Festival, usually around Whit Monday in the village of Cayon; Easterama, around Easter in the village of Sandy Point; Fest-Tab, in July or August in the village of Tabernacle; and La festival de Capisterre, around Independence Day in Saint Kitts and Nevis (19 September), in the Capisterre region. These celebrations typically feature parades, street dances and salsa, jazz, soca, calypso, and steelpan music.

The 1985 film Missing in Action 2: The Beginning was filmed in Saint Kitts.

Sports

See also: Cricket in the West Indies and Rugby union in Saint Kitts and Nevis

Cricket is common in Saint Kitts and Nevis. Top players can be selected for the West Indies cricket team. The late Runako Morton was from Nevis. Saint Kitts and Nevis was the smallest country to host 2007 Cricket World Cup matches.

Rugby and netball are also common in Saint Kitts and Nevis as well.

The St. Kitts and Nevis national football team, also known as the “Sugar Boyz”, has experienced some international success in recent years, progressing to the semi-final round of qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in the CONCACAF region. Led by Glence Glasgow, they defeated the US Virgin Islands and Barbados before they were outmatched by Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. Despite not representing the country, Marcus Rashford is of descent.

The St. Kitts and Nevis Billiard Federation, SKNBF, is the governing body for cue sports across the two islands. The SKNBF is a member of the Caribbean Billiards Union (CBU) with the SKNBF President Ste Williams holding the post of CBU Vice-President.

Kim Collins is the country’s foremost track and field athlete. He has won gold medals in the 100 metres at both the World Championships in Athletics and Commonwealth Games, and at the 2000 Sydney Olympics he was the country’s first athlete to reach an Olympic final. He and three other athletes represented St. Kitts and Nevis at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The four by one hundred metre relay team won a bronze medal in the 2011 world championships.

American writer and former figure skater and triathlete Kathryn Bertine were granted dual citizenship in an attempt to make the 2008 Summer Olympics representing St. Kitts and Nevis in women’s cycling. Her story was chronicled online at ESPN.com as a part of its E-Ticket feature entitled “So You Wanna Be An Olympian?” She ultimately failed to earn the necessary points for Olympic qualification.

St. Kitts and Nevis had two athletes ride in the time trial at the 2010 UCI Road World Championships: Reginald Douglas and James Weekes.