In this section we tell the story behind the street names in the city. Some names are known to everyone, others not at all. All names are not chosen randomly. But what is actually the origin of the names? That’s what we’re trying to find out.
Kantantriedreef is one of the four newly created street names on Ivoordreef, as part of the housing project there. The new street names are all named after native plant names from Suriname. This week we explain the name Kankantriedreef.
Kankantrie is the Surinamese name for the sacred kapok tree and known from Afro-Surinamese folk tales. The tree plays a role in particular in many Anansitori, stories about the spider Anansi. Anansitori are originally Ghanaian wisdom stories, but due to colonialism they ended up in Suriname. On the plantations, the Anansitori developed into anti-colonial stories of hope for liberation. The Kankantrie tree mainly plays a role of comfort in these stories.
The story
In the original Ghanaian story, the character Anansi is a brutal villain who always manages to get himself out of tight situations. The spider embarrasses the great and mighty of the animal kingdom, based on the principle ‘he who is not strong must be smart’. In colonial times, the great and powerful in this story were the plantation owners and supervisors.
Due to the cruel colonial regime, expressions of their own culture were often prohibited, but stories could be told. In this way, enslaved people could unknowingly criticize the colonial oppressors. An important function of this folk tale was comfort on the plantations. Due to his anarchist character, Anansi became an anti-colonial folk hero after the transports of enslaved people.
The original story of Anansi has therefore changed somewhat. For example, the smart spider was called Anansi, instead of Kwaku Ananse as in Ghana. In addition, the story became a lot more modern and secularized. Attributes such as wine bottles, alarm clocks and cigarettes appear and secular leaders, such as in this case the colonists, became Anansi’s enemies instead of God.
Sacred tree
The Kankantrie tree mainly plays a comforting role in the Anansitori. “One day Anansi cries under a kankantrie…”, a sentence from the story Ba Anansi and the one-legged Mother of the Forest.
Nowadays the Kankantrie tree is seen as sacred by the Surinamese people. The Kankantrie tree is revered because it highlights the cultural diversity of the country. After all, the tree comes from West Africa. The tree is also said to be a residence of saints. The kankantrie tree is therefore rarely cut down, and if it does have to be cut down, this is done very carefully with an extensive ritual.
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