The Courier

Today, the island is engaged in economic development to secure its future. 30 per cent of its energy already comes from sustainable sources and it aims to be the first country in the world to make that 100 per cent. What’s more, it is a very beautiful island with fabulous beaches (excellent surfing) and high mountains, at times covered in snow. The people are also extremely friendly and hospitable. 

However, rest assured… there is no such thing as paradise on earth! 

The history of Réunion is of an island that initially had no indigenous population, the earliest inhabitants only arriving in the 17th century. This initial community consisted of French and Madagascan men accompanied by Madagascan women, the latter in insufficient numbers in proportion to the men. This is why ethnic mixing – or métissage – is present in the very beginnings of the island’s population.

A history of women

For a long time after the initial colonists, few women arrived on the island as it was viewed as inhospitable and could only be reached after a hazardous sea voyage. The men, the settlers and those were initially their slaves and later hired labour, had to make do with the few available women. The diverse origins of these women and their backgrounds of different religions – Catholicism, Madagascan faiths, Hinduism and later Islam – were part of the mix from which has emerged a pot pourri of cultures. This mixing produced an exceptional physical beauty in the island’s population, an ease in human contacts and a relative religious tolerance if not complete openness. 

A sharing of the gods

Most of the country’s Chinese are Catholics who at the same time practise certain rituals of their country of origin. The dual Muslim and Catholic faith also exists, although it is rarer today. Prisca, a young Indo-European, is one example. More Europeans than Indians work in the hospitality industry, she explains: “It is normal; everybody is of mixed race here. I am three-quarters European and I grew up with two religions. A Réunionnais who is not mixed at all simply does not exist, even if somebody believes that is what they are.”

Fatura, a third generation Indo-Muslim, considers herself a Muslim but does not reject the legacy of the Christian education long imposed by the island’s schools. She has no hesitation in inviting in a man who is taking a picture of her lovely home, to share Sunday afternoon tea with herself and her three daughters and their daughters. In many places that would be seen as scandalous. Fatura owns a lingerie shop in town and is a perfect example of the kindness and hospitality of the Réunionnais as well as the spirit of openness in religious practices. 

The most beautiful testimony to this mixing of faiths is probably the more than 500 chapels dedicated to Saint Expedit that are dotted around the island, in front of which Tamils and Christians alike come to perform their devotions. They are all the same. The saint is Christian but the decor and symbolism of the colours are Indian.

This faith is also very different to the exploitation of religion found in many very poor countries where hope is the only social security. There is no abject poverty on Réunion and the poor receive some social assistance.

The positive knock-on effects of assimilation

One important element in understanding Réunion is the extreme ’assimilationism’ of the French administration on this island over a long period. After slavery was abolished (1848), when the colony had to employ the services of labour recruited from Southern India and the Bombay region, China and, somewhat later, Vietnam and elsewhere every effort was made to avoid these distinct cultural communities taking root. The French language, the Catholic religion, and the Napoleonic Code were points of reference imposed on all. Also imposed were French or Frenchified names, including family names. Today this presents quite a headache for genealogists. This forced assimilation has probably contributed to the open attitude found on Réunion both to relations between ‘races’ and in religious practice. The consequences of political events are ultimately often independent of any moral judgment. 

The Zoréoles

It was not until the middle of the 20th century that religious freedom was fully recognised. Now, the latest arrivals on the island have mixed very little: virtually not at all in the case of the Pakistani and Chinese merchants and less than average in the case of the Zoreys, even if ‘Zoréoles’ – children of Zoreys and Creoles – are not that rare. 

Christophe Tézier, Editor-in-chief of one of Réunion’s two leading newspapers, believes that “the mixed race harmony is very real. Mixed race marriages are commonplace. Even if there are very closed Pakistani and Chinese communities and a degree of isolation on the part of certain Arab women and the occasional white family.”

But, overall, Réunionnais society is probably unique, causing Paul Vergès, President of the island’s Regional Council, to say that, “Réunion has gone beyond the stage of cultural diversity and is now an intra cultural society. The whole population is aware that various cultural elements from Africa, Asia and Europe have been integrated.”