I Went To A Traditional Wedding In Suriname & Got Shocked 😳

[@WODEMAYA]

Merry Christmas To You & Your Family ❤

[@jarviss.tv.4895]

They should of save some food for you! It is not right! Dam!

[@Agnes_Mugambi]

Merry Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho! What language do the Suriname people speak? Like in Kenya we speak Swahili as a national language and English as an official language. How about them? I've just come to know Suriname through your videos

[@chaljen]

​@Agnes_Mugambi Dutch is the official language because we were a colony of the Netherlands. But our creole is called "Sranan" or "Sranan tongo, meaning Surinamese tongue/ language. It's a lingua franca mixture of the European languages and African languages. Suriname is a multi ethnic country so all the other also have their own languages, for example the Chinese, Indians, Indonesians, Jews, Lebanese etc. Also the Native Surinamese, the indigenous Surinamese folks. They are called American Indians, They are the real Caribbean. Because of them the region is called the Caribbean.

[@cellinakangaijulius5015]

Merry Christmas our in-law Maya and our Queen Trudy..may the Lord bless you as as you continue exploring in that country...from Meru Tharaka Nithi County❤❤❤❤🇰🇪🇰🇪🇰🇪

[@emeliatanihu]

Interesting video to watch 😍🎉 Maya, I think it'll be nice if you own a property like a house in the carribean to build more and strong bond with them.❤

[@ofiliadefia]

We've lost our identity in Africa but our cousins who were taken away didn't lose theirs. I didn't see much of breached skin and fake hair on our lovely sisters in Suriname.

[@Solar.Goddess]

After reading all these comments from people recognizing their culture and villages fprom different African countries, I'm starting to see Suriname as the United Africas outside of Africa. Ancestors from different tribes created a melted united beatiful mixed African descented culture 🙌🏽 Bigup Suriname 🇸🇷 the country is a united treasure

[@MrRoyck10]

They are 100% authentic Africans, I must visit Surinam in my lifetime to witness this African cultural masterpiece

[@janjacob2259]

Please do! It is a very beautiful country. More dan 80 procent is Amazing rainforest. And the food is Incredible. You will not be disappointed! ❤️

[@MSSHARIII]

💯💯💯

[@Geelljireqoqay]

These people have their ancestral culture after 500 years Wallah, God bless you!!!

[@safiadagomber3905]

Ameen thuma Ameen my dear brother

[@aishabaidydiop]

Inbelievable !! As an african woman i am shocked. This Peoples in Surinam is like africans People. The same oufits , the same songs, same dance. Same culture. Like we are in africa. They did not lose their ancestry's culture..Travel to Surinam is like travel to Africa

[@nightallen4704]

Blood is thicker than water...The African Blood can not be destroyed....because we were also created by God... and he has over and over communicated that....to the people who think they are superio...and think they can destroy curtain races...

[@JohannisKort]

Yes true, i'm even living in Suriname. Just the same like Afrika

[@marthamirouw]

They have african.blood so.they where took from africa to suriname as slaves.

[@Snkbee]

Am happy to see that they were able to keep their culture intact. It's good to see the children of Africa surviving and thriving where they were scattered. @@nightallen4704

[@leopoldnguessan4639]

If you asked an African who hasn't watched the video, he will say this is Africa

[@WODEMAYA]

Exactly 😂

[@elianedorelle2950]

I am telling you!

[@elianedorelle2950]

These people must be from my country Congo, they were taken from Congo. Jut look at the way they are shaking their ass and the folded cloth attached around their waist to help them shake their ass properly, we do the same in Congo. Oh my God, my brothers and sisters, I am crying of joy 🥲

[@joejulian617]

You did not lie.

[@africaine4889]

​@@elianedorelle2950as a congolese I was amazed. Same thing 100%

[@nwananka]

This is the reason Africa should get their act together ASAP and get our people across the world together in culture,open travel, business, etc

[@comahsamuel3969]

No they'll go back home, all of them.

[@nwananka]

@@comahsamuel3969 african countries can have programs that will enable them visit the continent not necessarily move back

[@jazariareid7250]

Real talk man 🇯🇲💯

[@TheLocalStandard]

​@@comahsamuel3969No! We most strive to colonize the world in all nooks and cranny, others do it with guns, we Africans most do it with calm and culture.

[@comahsamuel3969]

@@TheLocalStandard 😁😁👍

[@policyplayback]

I wish African women and black women in general would come back to styling and rocking their natural hair. It's looking so beautiful on these Suriname women. I want to marry one of them.

[@LG-universe]

Go get your queen, love and treat her right, and she will reciprocate. Blessings.

[@merlinelouissaint2421]

Beautiful

[@panafrocanam2100]

Lmao u can make judgments from watching one video that women there are certain way. Secondly, it's up to dudes to stop incentivizing women to adorn what they do now. You can't say one thing when majority complement bad behavior now.

[@panafrocanam2100]

​@LG-universe lmao u keep thinking that...

[@mpimando6345]

try your luck and god bless Respekd🙌

[@AfroGlobalNetwork]

Africa and Suriname are like a mother and child. Thank you Woda Maya❤

[@JennethonP]

Suriname is Doughter of the Motherland

[@GodfreyForrester]

​@@JennethonP❤

[@kwamebonsu1010]

Hi Wode Maya, I'm a typical Ghanaian living in America for twenty six not been to Ghana all these years. I come from the central region of Ghana, but I can tell you the Suriname village wedding makes me feel like I'm in the Volta region village in Ghana. What a surprise. Nature is wonderful. After 400-500 years that our people were shipped against their will to the Americas and the West Indies as " SLAVES" the core traditions have been passed on from generation to generation to date, or to the present. Anyone who was born and raised in Africa can surely say these are my people. The way they prepare their food, dress,dance and interact with each other reveal the real African gene established on a different continent. It makes you feel these are my people and I can put some of them in my suitcase and take them home when I'm going back to Africa right? That's the same feeling I get, just like your trip to Brazil. I watched that one too. I didn't mean to write an essay here but I'm getting there. This is my prediction, someday we as Ghanaians will have a new President who will send a ship to go and bring them back home to Ghana. My eyes are all filled with tears watching them over and over again. Good luck with your program, and the good Lord will help and bless you always as you travel the world finding our lost people and promoting African unity. Thank you.

[@michaelfredericks-c9b]

Oh my God charter a Cruise ship and i will be the first to make get on board to make the journey over and i wont be returning to the Caribbean.

[@JohnRobotham-v3j]

Hiring a ship to take our people back home is reminiscent of the Honorable Marcus Garvey’s “Black Star Liner” and philosophy “once you are a Black man you’re an Africa!”

[@nelsonhotor7116]

What at all are you doing in the state for 26 years without visiting home?

[@Ntuthu-ZA]

@@nelsonhotor7116 mind boggling! Hoping to hear the response.

[@jameso]

​@@nelsonhotor7116maybe he couldn't afford it?

[@mavisburke495]

Wow I am so proud of Suriname who would have known that they KEPT Africa closer than any of us in the Carribbean.Thank you Wode Maya.

[@chaljen]

Because of the escaping of our ancestors 2 the Amazon rainforest we could keep our culture. Thanks to them.

[@m-jay356]

You act like we had a choice. The maroons were the only ones, and thats because they ran in the bush. The rest of us got beaten to accept Western religions and customs. Don't disrespect what our ancestors endured. Respect to those who were able to maintain the african culture.

[@jojolove3415]

Yessss beautiful.

[@MRSZ5440]

@@m-jay356 That was a genius move to escape to the bush sir.

[@kwabenalauriston7581]

Our islands are too small to have preserved anything and of course Christianity has made what we had bad!😢

[@sweetiesuccess8435]

I'm glad you got the chance to see how the diasporas of the Americas was taken out of Africa but the Africa was NEVER taken out of them...Especially those in South America and the Caribbean...Their navel string is still connected to Africa.

[@chiefspiritwolf6650]

They haven’t left Africa in the mind one bit. That was exceptionally incredible!! I’m in awe.

[@tulsacaupain2882]

I myself love that we haven't. Altough it's not all Black people in Suriname appreciate this..

[@sabri1913]

Yes it’s truly incredible. They look so good as well. It’s that sun and feeling of being authentic. I admire those that do

[@MSSHARIII]

💖💖💖Love it!

[@j_4126]

They kept the African spirit alive. They really look like our brothers and sisters from West Africa (Descendants). Thanks Wode Maya for bridging the gap.

[@kxcabral]

We came from the same ship…spread all over the world.

[@AmosHashaka]

Those cultures are definitely the descendants of Congo-Angola empire, and therefore, congolese and Angolan descendants without doubts!

[@Kofi.86]

They really keep the African culture alive

[@stephenokwechime1609]

Very amazing how our African brothers and sisters in diaspora were able to preserved the Africa Culture , the whites wrongfully enslaved the innocent Blackmen / women but they couldn't wiped away their culture and traditions.....Proudly AFRICAN from Nigeria 🇳🇬

[@chaljen]

Fawaka , na soso lobi gi yu mi Nigeria brada. Wi na wan Afrikan pikin lobi. Yr Surinamese brother saying hi in Surinamese.

[@comahsamuel3969]

Fawaka na ga u mi mati ? Greetings from 🇬🇭🦁

[@HdheehBdhdhdhe]

Stop blaming it on the white people if y’all were the ones selling us to them 🙄

[@chaljen]

@@comahsamuel3969 Bun mi brada soso lobi

[@jazariareid7250]

Right on my brother 🇯🇲💯

[@darboejula9526]

What I like about them none of them bleach 😊and know heavy makeup 💄 just with the natural flow ✨️

[@mishapatter9049]

Natural Beauty!💯

[@rosam674]

They are original Africans. No racial mixing. Everything about them is African.

[@policyplayback]

That is a very good observation. Nice one.

[@panafrocanam2100]

All what u say is a product of Western media and dumbing down of African values. We the people have to put stop to it but sadly many encourage it.

[@onojaaudu4194]

That is exactly my perspective

[@CarlienVelland]

My beautiful Country Suriname 🇸🇷 thank you for putting Suriname 🇸🇷 on the map ❤ Wodemaya ❤

[@RoselineNoku-dv6fg]

Where is Suriname ??? I'm in Zimbabwe my first time to hard this country name

[@hurtin0108]

@@RoselineNoku-dv6fg don't be lazy and search the internet

[@rotimikayode1072]

They are dancing like some ethnic groups in Southern Nigeria.

[@nuellubisTV]

​@@RoselineNoku-dv6fg South America, near Brazil. Little country, but I guess, that's a very pretty country. I think, I am going to enjoy to live in Suriname.

[@kwameboadukissi426]

Fawaka my Surinamese brothers and sisters. Did I hear "atuuu" when the women welcomed the groom? If I did, that is how we welcome in the Akan tradition of Ghana too.

[@WODEMAYA]

Yep!

[@selassiesys8794]

I thought it was interesting too... In ewe language its the same... we say Atuuu to greet and hug you

[@RonaldTangwi-pl5wd]

Exactly it is the same thing.

[@mojenz1934]

yes, we say atuuu in the okanisi language. We also call it akan language

[@kwameboadukissi426]

@@mojenz1934 Interesting!

[@jeangermain3621]

I am truly amazed man! I am from Haiti, I never seen that similarity like I see in Suriname anywhere else in the diaspora. I see nothing different between Ghana and Suriname. People in the Suriname don't lose their tradition really, I appreciate that. May celebrate different way but carry the same tradition and the same spirit. I truly admire my families in the Suriname!!! God blesses!

[@Cici_mimi]

As African, I thought outside of Africa I can relate only Haitians, but now I find it another brothers and sisters. Beautiful how they kept their culture and DNA to themselves.

[@jeangermain3621]

@@Cici_mimi Exactly what I thought too. They always claimed Haiti as the little Africa, but I discover Suriname even more related in culture, dance, wedding, even look. God bless!

[@andresmith6029]

When I see things like this my heart pains me for my country Jamaica 🇯🇲 we barely have any tradition of our ancestors left 😢

[@annfisher8811]

Bc we have been so brainwashed we think african culture is backward. Dont worry my love seek it out for yourself. I am a jamaican born with Africa in my blood NO ONE can take that away

[@ideiasmultiverso2022]

Oh my God this is real in america! It's like cabinda or tchokwe culture from Angola, the way of dancing is the same. Suriname people thank you for keeping the african culture of our ancestors in america, you are our brothers from far away ❤.

[@rda-gama2567]

Yes , we are all mixed up in the same pot !

[@kxcabral]

We came from the same ship. 🥹 and spread all over the world.

[@lacinabakayoko4634]

Melanted Carbonated family must remember that the slave ships brought no west Indians, no Caribbeans,no Jamaicans, no Trinidadians, no Barbadians, no Guyanese, no Ayitian, no vinccy to this hemisphere. The slave ships brought only African people and most of us took the semblance of nationality from the places where slave ships dropped us off.

[@rochekalifa2074]

Yes this particular group saramacans have predominantly Angola ancestry but also mixed

[@africaine4889]

I was saying that this wws congolese traditional dance. Even thr music.We also have tshokwe in Congo

[@miaosman8760]

I'm so surprised as an African lady who was born in Somalia 🇸🇴 raised in San Diego, CA. I never knew how much Suriname 🇸🇷 brothers and sisters keep their African tradition. Their dance is just like Uganda 🇺🇬 Tanzania 🇹🇿 Kenya 🇰🇪 and Somalia Bantus dance. This dance is all over Africa. Suriname 🇸🇷 you guys are our family ❤for sure!

[@hervem.]

The culture so similar to ours in Cameroon It's insane

[@modouceesay9793]

Can you dance?

[@kenajiyo]

Thank you Suriname 🇸🇷 for keeping the African tradition, we in Guyana 🇬🇾 had it but we keep slowly losing it.

[@pacherno4417]

Thank you all

[@lacinabakayoko4634]

True freedom is to be shackled to your identity

[@lacinabakayoko4634]

There nothing devastating than African with European mind

[@studiostudioline7487]

Don't worry the spirit of Philip moore will refresh it.

[@Crabtree1844]

Wode Maya, did you notice how the majority of the women and men kept their hair NATURAL. I also noticed they are not bleaching their skin. They look stunning and very beautiful! You go Suriname! Aya maya. Happy New Year!

[@Crabtree1844]

@@rafaelw8115 ...some are still suffering from the effects of colonialism, self-hate and, ignorance. Skin-bleaching, hair relaxers, cosmetics...etc affect childbirth, cause cancer, some bleached skin look like rotten banana peel, the breath smell bad, they reman poor while enrich doctors and pharmaceutical industries....and so much more. Black is beautiful - that's why whyte people roast themselves in the sun like rottisserie chicken.

[@janjacob2259]

indeed... in Suriname... they dont do Bleaching .. at all. i never heard about bleaching.. until i met african that did that. i was in shock.

[@Crabtree1844]

@@janjacob2259 ...aren't Surinamians not Africans? I thought all black people are Africans who were forcefully displaced through slavery.

[@vicferrmat4492]

Wode Maya, you are doing some great work. These African people in suriname are more authentic traditionally than some of our people on the continent. We must also remember that enslavement brought us here 400 hundred years ago. Wode Maya, your work is educating all the African people worldwide. You are building a bridge and forging links between all of us wherever we live. All this work you are doing will go down in history. Thank you.

[@WODEMAYA]

❤️❤️❤️

[@comahsamuel3969]

Is Jah work, their time is near to go back home.

[@niecylanae33]

Yes to all of this 👏🏾 Very well said

[@Ntuthu-ZA]

Just about everything I’m seeing here resembles what we do in the Nguni cultures of South Africa, especially the Zulu and Xhosa people. I am amazed. Did not expect it at all. It’s a lot of fun, a time when we put our westernised selves aside and become proper abantu for that day, in our traditional outfits.

[@lacinabakayoko4634]

So many of the problems that melanted Carbonated people in the world today are due to the assault in our minds, by those who captured us and removed significant numbers of us to the western hemisphere.this also included the mind damage caused by the tempering with our spiritual system ( African sacred science) and culture's.

[@exquisitecaribbeanqueen7198]

I personally as a Jamaican think that we in the Carribbean need to go back to African traditions as farcas family, marriage & childrens discipline ...its just a better way of life...And the women's hair..Wow, you can see they love thrmselves...beautiful

[@WODEMAYA]

❤️❤️❤️

[@simonmanley6257]

Yardies shame of dem ancestors culture dead ina Jamaica No history taught in a de wicked Island

[@charmainethompson1319]

Stop writing crap..do you think Africans see Blacks that were not born in Africa, as African. Most Africans hated Black Americans and Caribbeans, especially those Africans in the despora.. God never make mistakes, He chooses where you would be born and raised, so be thankful. And stop wanting to be like people who don't think you have a culture and think they are better than Black Americans and Caribbeans. Their women adopting and copying western culture and dressing now half naked and if other Blacks do it they criticized them, and if blacks that were not born in Africa, wear head wraps or African clothing, they said people want to be like them. But only fools would want to be, anything other than themselves and not proud to be who they are. Africans don't like you, so get that in your head and stop this stupid comments. And be proud of who you are

[@Cici_mimi]

@@simonmanley6257 But why Haiti culture is still strong?

[@simonmanley6257]

@@Cici_mimi Becuse the Haitians adore and venerated their ancestors and built their own spiritual systems The African Jamaicans split and abandoned the African practices because of the overwhelming acceptance of Christianity. And its total control on the slave colonial plantation Island. The European dominance over the slave Island institutions was totally entrenched. Mental slavery also took hold over the population. So anti- African sentiments runs very deep into Jamaican population psyche, which in it self is paradoxical considering the Island is solidly Black country.

[@juwanyirenda3457]

The connection I felt with the people of Suriname in this video was simply magical. Love from Zambia.

[@Cici_mimi]

I never thought I would see a more African and blacker country outside of Africa other than Haiti. This is educational and really beautiful. They seem like they did not lost much of their culture.

[@rochekalifa2074]

Yes because they freed themselves just like Haiti did. The saramacans escaped very very early and were like 200 years free before abolishment of slavery and they are a very close community

[@miguelcazal721]

even more incredible it was done before Haiti and we have Paramount chief (Gaanman 6) since the 1700s until today with our own living customs and 14 languages ​​while in Haiti this is not the case...

[@miguelcazal721]

even more incredible it was done before Haiti and we have Paramount chief (Gaanman 6) since the 1700s until today with our own living customs and 14 languages ​​while in Haiti this is not the case...

[@Mark-z5v8m]

​@rochekalifa207They run away soon after they got off the boat😂😂😂4

[@Crabtree1844]

Suriname: congratulations for remaining authentic! I am loving and living for your natural skin tone and natural hair! You are shining like the tropical sun and you stand out in natural beauty!

[@gotours01]

Lovely to see our people being themselves and thriving. Is like a piece of Africa outside Africa

[@CHAPPAJANVISION]

One love my global African family

[@georgetteboateng5211]

Exactly

[@proverbalizer]

​@@CHAPPAJANVISIONone love fam

[@sidratulafleur2307]

As an African I am so proud of my people in Suriname.. must travel there. They kept our tradition closer than any other Caribbean country. So proud of bro Maya for showing this. They even speaking the language. Tears flowing 😭😭 love from Canada 🇨🇦… must travel there

[@latinsista]

You are most welcome!

[@FAMD4SH]

@Sidratulafluer2307 if you know nothing about the Caribbean keep quiet!! There are other islands who have kept aspects of different African country culture. Please don’t forget that Africans sold us into slavery and the white man ( whom many of you love so much) enslaved us and stripped us of our mother language(s).

[@yanikeonpurpose]

Absolutely. As a Jamaican mi shame. This is so much rich culture! Especially their hair. The only place you’ll potentially see this kind of stuff is in the Marroon villages of Jamaica, but having never witnessed marroon culture, I can only assume.

[@giovannibey7836]

I am Indian. melanated american original aboriginal Nottoway Indian. And it feels very good to see videos like this. My soul is being hugged.

[@rudynathan8852]

The black and natives in surinam actually worked together. You also have mixed native/african tribes in Surinam

[@hurtin0108]

so why the Morrocan flag though?

[@africaine4889]

​@@hurtin0108one of those AA who think they are native indian

[@CruzRosa-kk1nl]

Sadly, many AA have lost their sense of identity. They claim to be everything under the rainbow except from being primarily descendants of West Africans. They claim to be indigenous American Indians, Moors from Morocco, Hebrews, Egyptians etc. It's sad and pathetic 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️

[@Cubakah234Bujirire]

You simply mean you're african. Aboriginal is not a race. If you don't accept, mind the way other races treat you.

[@frederickcollins9228]

I live in Guyana and have visited Suriname and it takes Wode Maya for me to see a typical Saramacca wedding. Great work!

[@daudyisrael6142]

The more I see what our people do traditionally, the more I dislike what the colonizers have done to us here in the U.S.

[@exquisitecaribbeanqueen7198]

Totally agree......

[@hazeleugenewonderloveofthe8819]

I agree our culture and mother tongue was strip away and hijack

[@jaeeluv]

💯‼️😤

[@ArisDmajesty]

Thats the effect of The Wode Maya Pills😂😂😂

[@wokeone167]

I feel exactly how you feel my brother.

[@Essess23]

Wow how beautiful are those women 😍 I fell in love with at least 10 when he went down the bridesmaid line 😅

[@stopyra3395]

Wode, as a US citizen originally from Cameroon living in the US for 2 decades, believe me or not, the wedding ceremonies remind me my home country. Thanks, Wode I must visit Suriname

[@vickiev.7016]

im so in admiration on how those people fought to keep their culture alive and are practicing it. Black people are really resilient people. May God bless them.

[@worshipthelordwithdance28]

Hundreds of years ago they fled to the bush and they kept their culture because there was noone there who could take it from them or force another culture on them. They lived alongside rivers with a lot of big rapids, so the slave masters couldn't come to get them. That is why their culture was kept for hundreds of years.

[@AmoyaE]

Even though their ancestors were enslaved they still held onto a large percentage of their culture and passed it down to their descendants. Seeing these people practice the culture of their ancestors is so wonderful to see. 😀

[@YvettePhilip]

You will certainly make 1.5 million.From Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹 we love you

[@WODEMAYA]

Veryyy soon!

[@georgehosea139]

Wow that looks so much like Africa, good to see in Suriname they have retained African ways, that's lovely to see.. 😅

[@Dan1ell]

I love that you visited my country!

[@WODEMAYA]

I had a great time

[@chloesogood]

One Caribbean ❤🙏🏽 our special rich culture and beautiful African roots. Unity ✊🏾✊🏼✊🏽✊🏿

[@JaneDoe19635]

From Sierra Leone, happy to see my people from Suriname. I have been to Guyana but not Suriname even though I knew they were next door, there was not time to travel across borders. Beautiful Africans 100%❤

[@glo6429]

The Ijaw tribe in Nigeria dances this way. Waoh awesome 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@mhizummy2091]

Even igbos too

[@kuyahkudey3217]

Wow! I thought Jamaicans were the most African people culturally in the Caribbean. Now I know that the Maroons of Surinam are culturally the most African people in our region.

[@Cln2023]

Come to My Country Suriname 🇸🇷❤️👌🙏

[@Queen_Amenarina]

Jamaica has Maroons to that ran away from slave plantations and began living in the mountainous . Cuba has a maroon community to.

[@goldbluetears]

there are also marron people in colombia who live like that!

[@kuyahkudey3217]

@@Cln2023 Thanks for welcoming me! I hope to visit one day. 😊

[@kuyahkudey3217]

​@@Queen_Amenarina Yes we have Maroons here in Jamaica but I don't think their culture is as African as these people.

[@matomem]

Many tribes in South Africa we also have the family of the bride gifting presents to the groom as well just like in Suriname.

[@norahmvelase5693]

What about us native People in South afrika 😢

[@ebotawiah6567]

I hear them singing kwadwom, the recitals made before the Asantehene speaks. I have goosebumps all over me!

[@WabiSherie]

The HAIR! THE HAIRSTYLES!!!! Both the men and especially the ladies! Woooooow 🎉🎉🎉can't wait to visit Suriname 🇸🇷. Love from 🇰🇪 Kenya!

[@VeronicaLovesAI]

Yes. The hair, the skin…🎉❤

[@lesiemehle1901]

It's only women in this wedding, has anyone noticed that too.

[@mkaijewett]

@@lesiemehle1901 Watch to the end. It was explained that the women come first, then the men.

[@hurtin0108]

@@lesiemehle1901 When the sun goes down, the kids & all of their mothers leave so the adults can party

[@NyashaMhandiwa]

They still do it the African way.They represent.Im so proud of you Suri what what .Its still new to me .

[@user-xy5xl1bt5b]

Man I most admit I had a nice time watching you Woda Maya. Black African empowerment! Strength and health , love and understanding to all the diaspora of Africa, the final frontier of world trade among themselves and to the world!. James in America Chicago peace be upon you.🤨🤔🧐❤️

[@selkybangs4333]

Wode how possible can we try to organize a kind of Africa cultural festival back home, where we can invite all the African countries and those in the diaspora in one country, maybe make it rotating ( being hosted by different countries every year)

[@redhillhero1975]

i thought ghana has started with Afrofuture festival

[@citylinkproject9901]

excellent idea !

[@emmanuelozuru5097]

Nigeria bankrolled FESTAC in 1977. They even built a brand new city for it. Later the country suffered heavily economically. Let's just open up our bothers and do some cross-pollination of African cultures. Just my opinion, though.

[@mkaijewett]

There was one in the 70s called FESTAC. I don't know what happened to it.

[@Olcool]

They can also communicate in english. what an amazing group of people. I am so pleased, The smiles on their faces are so authentic. they are loving and welcoming.

[@fredericktiku2585]

This people preserved the African culture even more than some African countries in Africa.

[@Hacinth123]

Even the music is the same like in Cassamance and Guinea Bissau, I think they might come from Guinea Bissau

[@Somaake5]

I am from Guine-Bissau tooo. 🖤🙏🏿

[@Businessflip]

❤From Somaliland to wode Maya and our Carebean brothers and sisters

[@leongrant2320]

Thank you, my people from Somaliland for recognized us as your brother and sisters. We have known this all a while. I'm from Guyana 🇬🇾

[@Cici_mimi]

Idoor there's only one Somalia and SSC Khaatumo State Of Somalia 🇸🇴🇸🇴🇸🇴 Guul SSC Khaatumo State Of Somalia.

[@Cici_mimi]

@@leongrant2320 **Somalia** Somaliland is a little village inside the great Somalia.

[@Businessflip]

@@leongrant2320 your ere welcome

[@usmanjohn3267]

Is Somalia Africa do we have the same culture are you not Arab pls let us be

[@Jassy-s9g]

This pure our African brothers and sisters. I love you guys

[@UK-sm4co]

What! This is outside Africa? Ahmazing, 👏 👏 👏 🇸🇷 🇳🇬 So proud of them, as an African this is very emotional for me

[@WODEMAYA]

Yes

[@bgreatgraphixxgreat9559]

Same culture... Parts of Nigeria do have gift presentation from both parties (Bride and groom family) but more from the Groom... Especially when the groom family has fulfilled the item in the list... Great one

[@Food-Fashion-travel]

My country, my culture, thank you for visiting 🤩❤️ 🇸🇷

[@fokofotso8122]

They are doing it like in my country in west Cameroon 🇨🇲

[@atemnkeng4660]

Almost like asiko in Cameroon

[@Nana97651]

Bah c’est comme tout l’Afrique de l’Ouest et central

[@rychelssassa7866]

​@@Nana97651normal se sont des africains

[@rychelssassa7866]

Je suis camerounaise ils dansent coe 1 peuple ici chez nous qu'on appelle les bassa

[@shyfettymtunda4619]

The dancing was the whole vibe🎉. Everything is beautiful there.😍 Sending love from Tanzania 🇹🇿,East Africa.

[@chaljen]

Thanks Habari, Nakupenda. Send some Nyama Chowma over hahahaha. Thanks to some Tanzanians I met some years ago I learned these words. When they spoke I also heard the word Angalia. I as African descent u always curious of Africans, maybe I could understand something

[@shyfettymtunda4619]

@@Jose-b2k1u Thank you.☺️

[@shyfettymtunda4619]

@@chaljen That's amazing.Come to Tanzania I'll treat you with nyama choma,lol.😂 Hakuna matata.

[@chaljen]

@@shyfettymtunda4619 thank you very much nakupenda you already. 😘

[@shyfettymtunda4619]

@@chaljen Hahaha!! Nakupenda pia.😂

[@hourgla-ss]

I have never heard of a country called suriname 🇸🇷 not to talk of knowing their Africans. The most beautiful video i have seen this year

[@shakkamusa2366]

This makes me feel very good. I love seeing the women with their natural hair and beautiful shining black complexion. The fact that they have retained so much of their African culture is a testament to the strength and resilience of our ancestors and African cultures in general. I am so proud of them. Thank you, Wode Maya! You have gained a subscriber.

[@chimemekx9033]

This people may be far away from their mother land (Africa) but they will never be forgotten. Merry Christmas to everyone. Maya, thanks for bringing your African story to our brothers and sisters taken away from us.

[@sohenko]

I am surprised OAU has not given Wode Maya an award ? I am going to petition them ! We need to update our educational systems across the world, there must be an Inter African educational summit not only on education but economics, medical research, history, defense and more. Let’s get to work.

[@Johnsonsetwithjustinthem-hm5nq]

Where have you been ? OAU seize to exit long time ago. Africa now has AU(Africa union).

[@garthybrookens4839]

Suriname should be a country in Africa. The likeness is so much.

[@patchristzekeng8888]

Africa should unite and that unity most include all our fellow black brothers and sisters. Wode Maya I hope Ghanaian president will have the courage to have you in the African union summit voicing for One Africa

[@ireneatenkeng9766]

What a beautiful culture and their skin color is so so beautiful. The way most of them look and their music and dancing style is a lot similar to that of the Doualas and Bassas of 🇨🇲 🇨🇲 🇨🇲 🇨🇲 🇨🇲 🇨🇲

[@africaine4889]

Also yes. Especially the waist dancing. Same in Congo

[@mikesterk9888]

​​@@africaine4889 Ai you speak the true 26:59 e 🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷👍👍👍👍👍❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@mpakempake3235]

I heard something similar to Bikutsi 😢😢😢

[@khadimlo5920]

I m senegalese the surinamians look like the manjak ethnie group from the south of Sénégal in the west Africa you are amazing

[@paullamah5073]

Honestly …I don’t know what to say anymore….im stunned

[@VlogginTherapy]

Facts 😂

[@ajshousenorway289]

They are more like the Sawa People in cameroon. Their way of dancing is very much like the Ewondo People of Cameroon. ❤

[@bowgate3817]

You find similar in Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin.

[@WODEMAYA]

Interesting

[@LG-universe]

I was looking for this comment.

[@geniusg811]

The Ijaws in Nigeria also has a similar dance 🙂

[@africaine4889]

Same in Congo.

[@MikeJones-ck4yt]

Wow!! They're even eating fufu the Afrikan way, so happy to see they have kept Afrikan tradition ❤❤❤

[@sranansani8568]

Wode Maya, thank you for puting Suriname on the map, a lot of people in the world had never heard of Suriname. THANK YOU!

[@Rilia.]

thank U very much for helping to share our beautiful culture with the world, A very proud Surinamese. ❤❤❤💙 many many blessings to you and your family wodemaya. We hope to welcome you back in Suriname .

[@kobinaadaboh4859]

You somethings unique form Ghanaian weddings. Very beautiful women you have there❤

[@Oliver-l4l7t]

As a Nigerian I am shocked by what I see. In faraway America? And it's just like attending a wedding in another part of Nigeria.

[@whizzywee]

Hi, greetings from Nigeria, please what language is being spoken ? searched online but the official language says y'all speak Dutch ? also .... what's an interesting fact about your country that i should know, cheers .

[@CharLInd12]

@@whizzywee Yes, the official language is Dutch. The Lingua Franca is a Creole language , very much like Nigerian Pidgin. It's called Sranantongo, and has influences of English, Dutch, Portuguese and various African languages. Some enslaved people managed to escape slavery and live out their lives isolated in the interior of the country. There they formed various sub ethnic groups, with one of them being the Samaaka who are highlighted in the video. We also have the Ndyuka or Okanisi, the Pamaaka, The Aluku/Boni, the Kwinti, the Matawai.

[@Rilia.]

greetings.🥰 the official language is Dutch that is being taught in school but the lingua franca is Sranantongo we also speak other native language because we have many different ethnicities and tribes living peacefully and respectful to each other culture in Suriname . 🥰@@whizzywee

[@kojokwame5201]

Hey. I just like how Wode brings our African brothers and sisters closer to us..... Surely it's gonna be a dream come true to get to meet all these people as my brothers and sisters one day 😊

[@osuaccra]

What they’re wearing, is their version of kente cloth. Every Caribbean nation has their version with different colours. The songs they were singing sounds close to ewe.❤❤❤

[@davidcomma1930]

Most ancestors of Suriname came from Ghana.

[@Mark-z5v8m]

Yea I noticed that. The language donation is very close to ewe.

[@overviewthem]

As I had said in other comments before this one, the African descendants in Suriname are a gem for studying. What they have in contributions will in many ways be rewarding in absolute profound ways that connect to us to what had existed before being modified by the impact of outside influences. I certainly believe that there are areas even on the continent that had been impacted and others that may not have tremendously so.

[@mysterymankab]

Africans are gorgeous!

[@yotsanta]

Surinam is really Ghana in abroad. I would have to take my vacation there one day.

[@nowornever5189]

Very nice i am happy to see our brothers and sisters from suriname love from Burundi 🇧🇮 in East Africa

[@sundayanyanwu1070]

All i see is raw African culture in display. Thanks Suriname for retaining this our beautiful culture

[@PLEASANTGIFFT]

From the UK. I keep watching your travels and you must keep up the work - this is a mission you are on and you are the chosen one uniting the scattered family of Africa. And what was shattered you are piecing it back together again. I'm send you love and respect from the UK of Jamaican descent. Thank you

[@africanjamaican7365]

Amen the chosen one to piecing the broken family. Yes yes blessings.

[@florencedonkor-abbraduh2877]

I admired this culture because, culture is a total way of life. It embraces what people ate and what they wore; the way they walked and the way they talked; the manner in which they treated death and greeted the newborn. Thanks for sharing

[@SunkissFlower]

Your Suriname content brought tears of joy and tears of sadness. I am so proud of the Surinamese people, yet I am sad to see what the rest of us in the Caribbean and Americas have lost. God bless Suriname. And Merry Christmas to you Wode Maya and Miss.Trudy.

[@simonmanley6257]

Totally agree with you look at the mess in Jamaica

[@WODEMAYA]

Amen!

[@hendrikmkvanleesteniv1294]

Never too late for us all to connect to our traditional roots and cultural ways! This is the power of technology now we can find out where we are from and then learn from those who know and can teach us what we have lost! We are the lost tribe and will eventually be reunited!

[@lacinabakayoko4634]

Happy Kwanzaa

[@missalwaysfortunate]

You are 100 percent right. Especially when it comes to marriage. Here in the United States only a little over 20 percent of black people marry. The destruction of the traditional family is destroying us.

[@anthonytobi9773]

My tribe in Nigeria dances more like that. We are 95% coastal in Nigeria. When I saw women carrying plates to the water front to watch I thought it is my village in Nigeria. Wonderful.

[@rudynathan8852]

Might be true. Im from holland and half surinamese. Most my african dna is nigerian (yoruba) according to two different dna tests. But my mom is not from this tribe tho

[@mhizummy2091]

@@rudynathan8852yoruba don’t shake waist lol 😂

[@TheLocalStandard]

​@@mhizummy2091😮Yorubas don't shake waist?! All the 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria shake their waists especially the Yorubas, even the Muslims. And I am from the Muslim majority North. Don't say what you don't know.

[@AMOE_30]

@@mhizummy2091They certainly do, just in a different way than this.

[@rudynathan8852]

I will aks my cousin to do a dna test. She is half Samaaka. I can compare my results with hers.

[@Meli_Mels]

the colors, the music, the joyful celebration. Thank you for taking us along. It was a delight to watch.

[@BMmacha1972]

Wode Maya, thanks for bringing out this country. I never knew it existed!!! They all have attributes of Africans.... reminds me of my village.....

[@mypeople6590]

The music sounds like the jinja people of Uganda.

[@whz366]

Suriname is amazing. Wonderfully festive wedding.

[@BeBlackBeBold]

Our people are everywhere

[@sranansani8568]

Wode Maya in the 'olden' days till the 70 and eighties they didn't wear tops at all. They walked bear breasted. And I do not say this to shame them. It was normal to wear their pangi alone from their teens. Hundreds of years ago they hid in the forest from the white men and they had little or no contact with other people. It was not an easy life. But they kept the African culture because that was what they had. Nobody from the city went down there to force them to change their culture. They wore tops like here only at festivities. I am proud that they kept some African culture for us, because we who stayed in slavery hundreds of years, lost almost all of our culture. We (black people who stayed in slavery till 1863) don't even have a wedding culture anymore. Sometimes I want to cry.

[@mpimando6345]

it is true that's how I grew up with my grandparents I used to wear Kamiza and the females wore Koyo and kozu which is called pangie.Nuff Respekd Blessieh Saamaka Kioo Upin Here sayin Peace💯✌😇

[@joancommonwealther4968]

I a agree, it was beautiful to see, i remember a delegation coming to Guyana in their full native dress.

[@Arthurlifestyle]

You’re welcome to join the food competition anytime you come back to Nigeria 🇳🇬. 2:32 I love that traditional wedding, I’ve always love doing things in traditional ways . It brings the originality of our culture out .

[@PatrickMwizozo-ep3vg]

Wodemaya ..you are true son of Africa...bring this pple home. ..This is our tradition... even..here in Malawi..Zimbabwe..kenya.. South Africa.

[@worshipthelordwithdance28]

Oh, we like Ghana, but in 500 years time Suriname became our home. Suriname is not the USA where white people are the majority. There are no white people in Suriname. Black people are the majority and after the Amerindians the first Surinamese people. We have also Indian and Indonesian immigrants here since 1875 and Chinese since 1853. The Dutch immigrants who came to Suriname long time ago died of malaria or were married to black, Indonesian or Indian people. There are only a few white families left or maybe none. One white family I knew some of them went to the Netherlands and a white colleague of mine married a Javanese.

[@fredericakitisu5417]

The dance that they are clapping and dancing is similar to ga-Dangbme people in Ghana dance called Kramer, especially people from Dodowa, they normally dance it at marriage ceremonies and dipo

[@roses4me451]

I love to see that they held on to their African culture and traditions. It is a beautiful culture and language. Now we see that "twerking" is actually an African dance and its origin. These dance moves are done throughout the Caribbean and carnivals called "wining". Wode Maya, thanks for sharing this with the viewers.

[@rochekalifa2074]

Yeah we just call it ass shake lol "seke gogo"

[@jimmyodari5487]

This is quite amazing and awesome , our own people from Africa maintaining their traditions in Surinam

[@francisanammah1127]

This is precisely Igbo traditional marriage; the practice of young ladies escorting the bride to her husband's house is called " Udu uno", which means escorting to her new home. I was part of this in Nigeria in the early seventies. Also it is unmarried maidens that participate. In our case we use to sing and dance along the way praising the beauty of the bride untill we get to her husband's house usually at about 7 or 8 in the evening. She starts to cry when we leave at About 9 back to her father's house without her.

[@secondexodus9105]

This is also Israelite culture

[@johod2994]

Incredibly great and amazing seeing Afro descendants in replica West Africa culture with a bit of flavours, of local identities and European influences... Love it!

[@zazabrown732]

Central African culture not West African. the dancing is from the Congo region