Editing Gullah (section)

==Customs and traditions==
{{See also|Hoodoo (folk magic)}}
[[File:Gullah s carolina 1790.jpg|thumb|"Old plantation" (1790) demonstrates the cultural retention of Gullah people with aspects such as the [[banjo]] and broom hopping.]][[File:Wooden rice mortar 3.jpg|thumb|right|Wooden mortar and pestle from the rice loft of a South Carolina lowcountry plantation]]

===African influences===
*The Gullah word ''guba'' (or ''goober'') for [[peanut]] derives from the [[Kongo Language|Kikongo]] and [[Kimbundu]]  word ''N'guba''.
*The Gullah dishes [[Charleston red rice|red rice]] and [[okra soup]] are similar to West African [[jollof rice]] and okra soup. Jollof rice is a traditional style of rice preparation brought by the [[Wolof people|Wolof]] people of West Africa.<ref>[http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_cuisine.htm Slavery in America<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090919100626/http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_cuisine.htm|date=September 19, 2009}}</ref>
*The Gullah version of "[[gumbo]]" has its roots in African cooking. "Gumbo" is derived from a word{{Which|date=February 2025}} in the [[Umbundu]] language of Angola, meaning okra, one of the dish's main ingredients.
*Gullah rice farmers once made and used [[mortar and pestle]]s and [[winnowing]] fanners similar in style to tools used by West African rice farmers.
*Gullah beliefs about "[[Boo Hag|hags]]" and "haunts" are similar to African beliefs about malevolent ancestors, [[witchcraft|witches]], and "devils" (forest spirits).
*Gullah "[[Hoodoo (folk magic)|root doctors]]" protect their clients against dangerous spiritual forces by using [[ritual]] objects similar to those employed by African [[witch doctor|traditional healers]].
*Gullah [[herbalism|herbal medicines]] are similar to traditional African remedies.
*The Gullah "seekin" ritual is similar to [[coming of age]] ceremonies in West African secret societies, such as the [[Poro]] and [[Sande society|Sande]].
*The Gullah [[ring shout]] is similar to ecstatic religious rituals performed in West and Central Africa.
*Gullah stories about "[[Br'er Rabbit]]" are similar to West and Central African [[trickster]] tales about the figures of the clever and conniving rabbit, spider, and tortoise.
*Gullah spirituals, shouts, and other musical forms employ the "[[call and response]]" method commonly used in African music.
*Gullah "sweetgrass baskets" are coil straw [[basket]]s made by the descendants of enslaved peoples in the [[South Carolina Lowcountry]]. They are nearly identical to traditional coil [[basket]]s made by the [[Wolof people]] in [[Senegal]].
*Gullah "strip [[quilt]]s" mimic the design of cloth woven with the traditional strip [[loom]] used throughout West Africa. [[Kente cloth]] from the [[Ashanti people|Ashanti]] and the [[Ewe people|Ewe]] peoples, as well as [[Akwete cloth]] from the [[Igbo people]] are woven on the strip loom.
* An African song, preserved by a Gullah family in coastal Georgia, was identified in the 1940s by linguist Lorenzo Turner and found to be a [[Mende people|Mende]] song from Sierra Leone. It is probably the longest text in an African language to survive the transatlantic crossing of enslaved Africans to the present-day United States. Later, in the 1990s, researchers Joseph Opala, Cynthia Schmidt, and Taziff Koroma located a remote village in Sierra Leone where the song is still sung today, and determined it is a funeral hymn. This research and the resulting reunion between a Gullah family and a Mende family that have both retained versions of the song is recounted in the documentary ''The Language You Cry In'' (1998).<ref>{{cite journal|date=December 1999|title=Review: ''The Language You Cry In'': The Story of a Mende Song by Alvaro Toepke, Angel Serrano|journal=American Anthropologist|publisher=Wiley, on behalf of the American Anthropological Association|volume=101|pages=826–828|doi=10.1525/aa.1999.101.4.826|jstor=684061|author=Thomas-Houston, Marilyn M.|number=4}}</ref>
* Some words coming from other African languages such as [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], [[Fon language|Fon]], [[Ewe language|Ewe]], [[Twi]], [[Ga language|Ga]], [[Mende language|Mende]], and [[Edo people|Bini]] are still used by Gullah people.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Ras Michael |title=African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=180, 225–230 |isbn=9781107024090 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dPfzevzxIboC&q=Kongo%20Initiation%20Titles%20and%20Lowcountry%20Personal%20Names}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pollitzer |first1=William |title=The Gullah People and Their African Heritage |date=2005 |publisher=University of Georgie Press |pages=124–129 |isbn=9780820327839 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2efDSQdNq-cC&q=Development%20of%20a%20creole%20language}}</ref>
*The Gullahs’ English-based creole language is strikingly similar to [[Krio language|Sierra Leone Krio]] of West Africa and contains such identical expressions as ''bigyai'' ("[[greed]]y"), ''pantap'' ("on top of"), ''ohltu'' ("both"), ''tif'' ("[[theft|steal]]"), ''yeys'' ("[[ear]]"), and ''swit'' ("delicious").<ref>{{cite web |last1=Opala |first1=Joseph |title=The Gullah: Rice, Slavery, and the Sierra Leone-American Connection |url=https://glc.yale.edu/gullah-rice-slavery-and-sierra-leone-american-connection |website=Yale Macmillan Center Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition |date=March 10, 2015 |publisher=Yale University |access-date=12 September 2021 |archive-date=October 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019041928/https://glc.yale.edu/gullah-rice-slavery-and-sierra-leone-american-connection |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Cuisine===
[[File:Sea Island red peas.jpg|thumb|[[Sea Island red pea|Sea Island red peas]], an heirloom variety of cowpeas grown by the Gullah]]

The Gullah have preserved many of their west African food ways growing and eating crops such as [[Sea Island red pea|Sea island red peas]], [[Carolina Gold|Carolina Gold rice]], Sea island Benne, Sea island Okra, [[Sorghum bicolor|sorghum]], and [[watermelon]] all of which were brought with them from [[West Africa]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Low Country and Gullah-Geechee Cuisine|url=https://lenoir.ces.ncsu.edu/2017/07/low-country-and-gullah-geechee-cuisine/|access-date=2021-07-26|website=lenoir.ces.ncsu.edu|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=michaelwtwitty|date=2016-10-05|title=Crops of African Origin or African Diffusion in the Americas|url=https://afroculinaria.com/2016/10/05/crops-of-african-origin-or-african-diffusion-in-the-americas/|access-date=2021-07-26|publisher=Afroculinaria|language=en}}</ref> Rice is a staple food in Gullah communities and continues to be cultivated in abundance in the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina. Rice is also an important food in West African cultures. As descendants of enslaved Africans, the Gullah continued the traditional food and food techniques of their ancestors, demonstrating another link to traditional African cultures. 

Rice is a core commodity of the Gullah [[food system]]: a meal was not considered complete without rice. There are strict rituals surrounding the preparation of rice in the Gullah communities. First, individuals would remove the darker grains from the rice, and then hand wash the rice numerous times before it was ready for cooking. The Gullah people would add enough water for the rice to steam on its own, but not so much that one would have to stir or drain it. These traditional techniques were passed down during the period of slavery and are still an important part of rice preparation by Gullah people.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Beoku-Betts|first=Josephine|year=1995|title=We Got Our Way of Cooking Things: Women, Food, and Preservation of Cultural Identity among the Gullah|jstor=189895|journal=Gender and Society|volume=9|issue=5|pages=535–555|doi=10.1177/089124395009005003|s2cid=143342058}}</ref>

The first high-profile book on Gullah cooking<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meggett |first=Emily |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1262965927 |title=Gullah Geechee home cooking : recipes from the matriarch of Edisto Island |date=2022 |isbn=978-1-4197-5878-2 |location=New York, NY |oclc=1262965927}}</ref> was published in 2022 by [[Emily Meggett]], an 89-year-old Gullah cook.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Severson |first=Kim |date=2022-05-09 |title=A Cook Who Never Used a Cookbook Now Has Her Own |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/09/dining/gullah-geechee-cookbook-emily-meggett.html |access-date=2022-05-11 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Celebrating Gullah culture===
Over the years, the Gullah have attracted study by many [[historian]]s, [[linguist]]s, [[folklorist]]s, and [[anthropologist]]s interested in their rich cultural heritage. Many academic books on that subject have been published. The Gullah have also become a symbol of cultural pride for blacks throughout the United States and a subject of general interest in the media.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gullah_Geechee Youth Culture Quest |url=https://vimeo.com/927140827 |website=vimeo |publisher=Gullah Geechee Corridor |access-date=29 March 2024}}</ref> Numerous newspaper and magazine articles, documentary films, and children's books on Gullah culture, have been produced, in addition to popular novels set in the Gullah region. In 1991 [[Julie Dash]] wrote and directed ''[[Daughters of the Dust]]'', the first feature film about the Gullah, set at the turn of the 20th century on St. Helena Island. Born into a Gullah family, she was the first African-American woman director to produce a feature film.{{cn|date=February 2022}}

Gullah people now organize cultural [[festival]]s every year in towns up and down the Lowcountry. [[Hilton Head Island, South Carolina|Hilton Head Island]], for instance, hosts a "Gullah Celebration" in February. It includes "De Aarts ob We People" show; the "Ol’ Fashioned Gullah Breakfast"; "National Freedom Day," the "Gullah Film Fest", "A Taste of Gullah" food and entertainment, a "Celebration of Lowcountry Authors and Books," an "Arts, Crafts & Food Expo," and "De Gullah Playhouse". [[Beaufort, South Carolina|Beaufort]] hosts the oldest and the largest celebration, "The Original Gullah Festival" in May. The nearby Penn Center on [[St. Helena Island, South Carolina|St. Helena Island]] holds "Heritage Days" in November. Other Gullah festivals are celebrated on [[James Island, South Carolina]], and [[Sapelo Island|Sapelo Island, Georgia]].{{cn|date=February 2022}}

Gullah culture is also being celebrated elsewhere in the United States. The [[High Art Museum]] in Atlanta has presented exhibits about Gullah culture. The Black Cultural Center at [[Purdue University]] in [[West Lafayette, Indiana]] conducted a research tour, cultural arts festival, and other related events to showcase the Gullah culture. The Black Cultural Center Library maintains a bibliography of Gullah books and materials, as well. [[Metro State College]] in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], hosted a conference on Gullah culture, called ''The Water Brought Us: Gullah History and Culture,'' which featured a panel of Gullah scholars and cultural activists. These events in Indiana and Colorado are typical of the attention Gullah culture regularly receives throughout the United States.{{cn|date=February 2022}}

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Exhibit Showcases Endangered Culture Embraced by African Americans in US South.ogv|[[VOA]] report about an exhibit about Gullah culture
File:City Market Sweet Grass.jpg|Sweet grass baskets made and sold by the African American Gullah community can be found throughout City Market.
File:Edisto Island National Scenic Byway - Sweetgrass Baskets - A Gullah Tradition - NARA - 7718281.jpg|Gullah sweet baskets from Edisto island
</gallery>

===Cultural survival===
[[File:Gullah Museum.jpg|thumb|A Gullah house painted in the color of haint blue]]

Gullah culture has proven to be particularly resilient. Gullah traditions are strong in the rural areas of the Lowcountry mainland and on the Sea Islands, and among their people in urban areas such as Charleston and Savannah. Gullah people who have left the Lowcountry and moved far away have also preserved traditions; for instance, many Gullah in New York, who went North in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] of the first half of the 20th century, have established their own neighborhood churches in [[Harlem]], [[Brooklyn]], and [[Queens]]. Typically they send their children back to rural communities in South Carolina and Georgia during the summer months to live with grandparents, uncles, and aunts. Gullah people living in New York frequently return to the Lowcountry to retire. Second- and third-generation Gullah in New York often maintain many of their traditional customs and many still speak the Gullah language.{{cn|date=February 2022}}

The Gullah custom of painting porch ceilings [[haint blue]] to deter haints, or [[ghost]]s, survives in the American South. It has also been adopted by [[White Southerners]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theawl.com/2018/01/haint-blue-the-ghost-tricking-color-of-southern-homes-and-gullah-folktales/ |title=Haint Blue, the Ghost-Tricking Color of Southern Homes and Gullah Folktales |first=Katy |last=Kelleher |work=[[The Awl]] |date=January 16, 2018 |access-date=March 5, 2018}}</ref>