Feel the Rhythm, Taste the Life — Discover Laborie
Ourselves
Laborie’s heritage spans centuries, shaped by Amerindians, Europeans, Africans, East Indians, and today’s diverse community.
A Tapestry of Cultures
The district of Laborie has a rich and varied cultural heritage stretching well over a thousand years.
It encompasses the Amerindians (sometimes known as the Arawaks, or Caribs), the European settlers and colonists from France, Spain and Great Britain, the enslaved African peoples brought in to work the estates, the East Indian indentured workers and today’s globalized citizens of the world.
Thriving Traditions
Laborians establish themselves everywhere and people from everywhere make the shores of Laborie their home. Each of these influences is now woven into Laborie’s vibrant West Indian culture.
The traditions from this unique cultural heritage are visible everywhere. It is how people live and talk – the French-based Kwéyòl language is alive and well here, spoken everyday along with the English language. It is the architecture of the homes, the food and drinks, the festivals celebrated throughout the year, the music and the arts… and the faces of the people!
An Old West Indies Soul
Known For Its Friendliness And Rich Traditions
What Is A Laborie
The name Laborie comes from Jean Zénon André de Véron, Baron de Laborie, Lieutenant-Governor of Saint-Lucia between 1784 and 1789.
The village was first known as “L’Islet à Caret”, or “L’Anse Kawet”, after the sea turtles that use to nest in the bay.
Legend says that the Baron made a large personal donation to the village, helping to restaure the church, following a devastating hurricane that also wiped-out the turtle’s coral-reef island in the bay.
For a short while during the French revolution’s troubles on island, the village was referred to as “La Patriote” by Saint Lucia’s own revolutionaries.
Laborie, as a surname, might derive from a “Borie”, a word from the Occitan dialect from southern France.
It is meant for a dry shed, made of stocked-up rocks, in remote parts of the land, where farm workers would keep their farming equipment, their harvest, their animals and sometimes themselves, for protection against the elements.
To this day, it is not uncommon to meet people named Laborie, sometimes spelled Laborit, wether in France, French-speaking places, or people with French origins.