Page 15 - AHATA

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local Friday 28 November 2025
Cas di Torto

Cas di torto (also called in the 18th century. Existing
cas di lodo or cas di bara) houses date back 150 years.
is a traditional building tech- Until 1925 many houses on
nique from Aruba. It refers to Aruba were built using this
a type of houses made of technique, afterwards it fell the structural support. On this consisted of corn (maize) rel for storing water that
mud with rounded corners. into disuse. In 2005 there basis, loam is applied, mixed stems, afterwards the nu- was collected in small rain
These houses were usually were 62 cas di torto houses with sand, water and para- clei of columnar cacti were ponds. Around this barrel a
found around the planta- left, of which only four were grass. This is then coated with used. The floor is made of thick loam wall would be
tions. The few structures that in good condition. aloe vera juice, which gives loam, mixed with cement erected. Often large families
still exist are the oldest struc- the white color and helps to or cow dung. would live in these houses;
tures that are left standing in The skeleton of the houses is protect against the weather. people would sleep on mats
the country. made up of round wooden The houses were usually di- on the floor.
poles placed with distances On top of the poles pieces of vided into a kitchen, a living
The technique probably of 1.5 feet between them. wood are fitted that serve as room, a porch and a bed- If you visit the Arikok National
came over from the Vene- Branches are interwoven the base for the roof beams. room. In the kitchen would Park you will be able to see
zuelan Paraguaná Peninsula between them, completing Until 1815 the roofing usually be a wooden or metal bar- a very nice cas di torto.q

Origin of Papiamento- Aruba’s native language

ORANJESTAD — Papiamento, quinrentist chroniclers, but which
Creole language of ABC (Aruba, we never saw in the history of Por-
Bonaire and Curacao) is from tugal that we study from primary
the Cape Verdean Creole fam- education to higher education.
ily (Cape Verdean language) and However, it has always been tried
was taken to the Caribbean in the to deceive us, in colonial time, that
9th century by the Cape Verdeans we were descendants of Viriato
of that time (linings and slaves), (Iberian hero in the fight against
experts in cane culture and sugar the Romans) and the pastors of the
production, and who were hired by Hermini Mountains, but not much
Jewish entrepreneurs who went to speaking of our black-African an-
invest in this business in the Carib- cestry.
bean. Cape Verdeans taught this
pre-industrial revolution technol- We Cape Verdeans understand
ogy (planting cane and produc- each other very well with these
ing sugar, which they had learned Antillans and Easterns, whose
from Madeirans) to slaves from language is from the same Cre-
other African regions, and did so in ole family of Cape Verde (Cape
their language, Cape Verde Cre- Verdean language), speaking
ole (Cape Verdean language) , their Creole and we ours. There-
hence the language implanted in language). You can see this best originated in the Creole of Cabo fore, Papiamento, Papi Cristang,
Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. when it’s saying obscene words Verde (Cape Verdean language), Patuá Macaense and the creoles,
and offending someone, precisely which was the French language said of Portuguese origin, Daman,
Unlike many interesting stories, as they say today in both ABC and spoken in Portuguese feitories on India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, some
wanting to link Papiamento direct- Cape Verde islands. The obscene the coast of Africa (from Senegal locations in the Philippines and
ly to Portuguese, Galician or Castil- words kept the original, had no to Sierra Leone), and which was some places in Indonesia, are cre-
ian (see Papiamento, on Wikipedia lexical influence either from Castil- taken east by the thousands of ca- oles of the language family Cape
– Portuguese version and Spanish ian or Dutch. Also the Papi Cristang ble – Verdeans (linings and slaves, Verde Creole (Cape Verdean lan-
version, where the Portuguese and of Malacca, the Patuá of Macau, already Christianized and speak- guage) and indirectly the Galaico-
Spanish, each claim the direct ori- and several creoles from the east ing Creole) who served as sailors Duriense or Galaico-Portuguese, a
gin of Papiamento), in fact, this is (from Daman, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and “slaves of arms′′ in Portuguese language that the people spoke in
not true. Papiamento is not direct Philippines, Indonesia) and Africa caravels, demanding the east. I Portugal in the 6th and 7th century.
from Portuguese, Galician or Cas- (Casamança, Guinea Bissau, Si- don’t know why the official history q
tilian, it is from the Cape Verde erra Leone and Nigeria, these last of Portugal usually omits this fact,
Creole family (Cape Verdean two releases to the English), all which is in the chronicles of the Source: Dushi Aruba