Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mauritians are also Catholic and a few Chinese and Indians have converted, largely
through intermarriage.
Muslims make up roughly one-fifth of the population. Like the Hindus, Mauritian
Muslims originally came from India. In Mauritius, where Islam coexists in close proxim-
ity to other religions, it tends to be fairly liberal, though attendance at mosque is high and
many Muslim women wear the hijab.
Sino-Mauritians are the least conspicuous in their worship. The one big exception is
Chinese New Year, which is celebrated in Port Louis with great gusto. There are a few
Chinese temples scattered around Port Louis.
Arts
Mauritian architecture, literature and fine arts are all firmly based in the French tradition.
The country's music, however, is African in origin and is very much alive and kicking.
LITERATURE
Mauritius' most famous contribution to world literature - one that has become entangled
in the island's history - is the romantic novel
Paul et Virginie
by Bernardin de St-Pierre,
which was first published in 1788 (
Click here
)
. An English translation of the novel is
widely available in Mauritius. The author captures the landscapes beautifully, though his
ultra-moralistic tearjerker is less likely to appeal to modern tastes.
Joseph Conrad's oblique love story
A Smile of Fortune,
collected in
'Twixt Land and
Sea
(1912), is set in Mauritius, although it's hardly very flattering about the place. Set in
the late 19th century it does, however, give a taste of the mercantile activity of the time
and the curious mix of 'negroes', Creoles, 'coolies' and marooned Frenchmen who popu-
lated the island then. Visitors to the island will certainly identify with Conrad's descrip-
tion of Mauritius as the 'Pearl of the Ocean…a pearl distilling sweetness on the world',
but will undoubtedly find the current inhabitants far more pleasant to deal with than the
characters described in the story.
Those who want to read a 20th-century Mauritian novel should try something by Mal-
colm de Chazal, whose most famous works are
Sens Plastique,
available in translation,
and
Petrusmok
. Chazal was an eccentric recluse, but he inspired a whole generation of
local writers. His works are a highly original blend of poetry and philosophy, and are
peppered with pithy statements, such as 'Avoid clean people who have a dirty stare'.
