July 1st abolition day in Suriname

On the first of July every year "the abolition of slavery" is commemorated in Suriname. This year was exactly 155 years ago that slavery officially came to an end. Slavery has lasted more than 200 years and Suriname was no exception to all of it. Because of the soil conditions of this country, agriculture was the means of existence for the Europeans to earn money. First the local population was deployed (Indigenous people) on the plantations, but they were not able to cope with the hard work. During this period of Indigenous as slaves many died and the work was stagnated. The plantation owners needed other slaves on the plantations to do the hard work. The Europeans who had already been in Africa had already become acquainted with the African and the physical condition of this population. It was a matter of time before the African would be deployed for the hard plantation work. Under force and violence, the men and women were separated from their families by recruiters and transported by boats to different parts of the world. On the way many of the slaves died, because there were too many aboard and the bad hygienic condition in which they stayed on their way to South America. The slaves in Suriname did not have a good life here. From working under embarrassing conditions to living in shacks, beatings where body parts were destroyed and bad to no food were all an integral part of the life of slaves in Suriname. During slavery here in Suriname, many slaves from the plantations also flee into the woods. These runaway slaves are called the maroons. After slavery was abolished in 1863, the so-called "free" people had to work for another 10 years for the plantations for a lousy fee. Only in 1873 were the slaves really free to lead their lives how they actually wanted. The Africans who came to Suriname brought their culture with them and we still see that 155 years later. The pangi (loincloth), anjisa (head cover), kotomisse (big dress) and their delicious dishes. These delicious dishes are: pom (made from pomtajer (arrow leaf elephant ear leaf)),  different soups made of earth fruits) her heri (a mix of earth fruits with salty fish), viado (made from flour, citron, sugar, raisins and alcohol), different oven biscuits and not too forget the delicious ginger beer. The Africans have come a long way since the end of  slavery and you can still feel that some of them still didn't made peace with horrible past.