Culture of Mayotte

Mayan women and girls pose in groups. They wear the traditional colored salouva of Mayotte and for some a matching kichalle; their arms are covered by a cotton bodysuit. They are made up, but only the woman on the right and the young girls have patterns on their faces, drawn with msindzano.

The culture of Mayotte is characterized by the diversity of the cultural practices of its inhabitants (256,518, 2017 estimate). Mayotte's culture is the result of crossings of populations for centuries,[1] it is the result of a very rich mixture. This mixture is reflected in the music, song and dance. The island has a great musical and choreographic tradition linked to Arab-Muslim culture.[1]

The Mahorese culture is also close to the Sakalava culture (North West of Madagascar). Kibushi, a language of Malagasy origin, is the mother tongue of approximately 30% of the population, Mayotte thus representing the most western territory of the Austronesian linguistic and cultural area. Recent archaeological work has demonstrated the historical presence of these traditions from the ninth century, and again in the twelfth century in the graves (Accoua and civilization of Dembeni), or in everyday objects.[2]

  1. ^ a b https://www.culture.gouv.fr/content/download/195793/file/MusiquesdeMayotte.pdf?inLanguage=fre-FR [bare URL PDF]
  2. ^ archeologiemayotte.over-blog.com. "Archéologie Mayotte". Archéologie Mayotte (in French). Retrieved 2021-07-15.