Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Religion & Beliefs
An estimated 70% of the population belongs to the Catholic faith, which dominates the is-
land's religious character. It's evidenced in the many saints' days and holidays, as well as
in the names of towns and cities. Religious rituals and rites of passage play an important
part in the lives of the people, and baptisms, first communions and church weddings are
an integral part of social culture.
About a quarter of Réunionnais are Hindus, which is the dominant faith in the east. Tra-
ditional Hindu rites such as teemeedee , which features fire-walking, and cavadee , which
for pilgrims entails piercing the cheeks with skewers, often take place. Muslims make up
roughly 2% of the population; as in Mauritius, Islam tends to be fairly liberal.
Interestingly, a great deal of syncretism between Hinduism, Islam and Catholicism has
evolved over the years. In fact, many of the Malbar-Réunionnais participate in both Hindu
and Catholic rites and rituals.
Apart from celebrating the Chinese New Year, the Sino-Réunionnais community (mak-
ing up about 3% of the population) is not very conspicuous in its religious or traditional
practices.
Religious tolerance is the norm here. Mosques, churches, Hindu temples and pagodas
can be found within a stone's throw of each other in most towns.
THE ODD CULT OF ST EXPÉDIT
You can't miss them. Red shrines honouring St Expédit are scattered all over the island, including on road sides.
St Expédit is one of Réunion's most popular saints, though some scholars argue there never was a person called
Expédit. Whatever the truth, the idea was brought to Réunion in 1931 when a local woman erected a statue of the
'saint' in St-Denis' Notre-Dame de la Délivrance church in thanks for answering her prayer to return to Réunion.
Soon there were shrines all over the island, where people prayed for his help in the speedy resolution of all sorts
of tricky problems.
Over the years, however, worship of the saint has taken on the sinister overtones of a voodoo cult: figurines
stuck with pins are left at the saint's feet; beheaded statues of him are perhaps the result of unanswered petitions.
The saint has also been adopted into the Hindu faith, which accounts for the brilliant, blood-red colour of many
shrines. As a result the Catholic Church has tried to distance itself from the cult, but the number of shrines contin-
ues to grow.
Arts
One of the greatest pleasures of visiting Réunion is experiencing Creole-flavoured French
culture or French-flavoured Creole culture, depending on how you look at it. For news of
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