Plants are a core ingredient to the life style and traditions of islanders. Canoes were carved from trees, baskets made from vines, and, as in all earth-locked cultures, many ailments were treated with salves or teas made from roots, branches, leaves or fruits of indigent plant forms. Recipes for such treatments have been passed down through the generations.

The island is full of tales of aphrodisiacs. Besides the well known use of raw oysters and sea eggs (roe of the white sea urchin found in the shallow waters surrounding the islands) the islanders have ways of preparing the Cats Paw, a local vine, and the Irish Moss, a fan shaped marine plant that grows along the shorelines. When mixed with milk, honey, vanilla and often rum this sea moss becomes a choice St. Jonian aphrodisiac

Donkeys & goats roam the island freely. At one time the donkeys were the primary form of transportation. Carrying the island's inhabitants and cargo from Coral Bay to Cruz Bay on the historic trails that run the length of the island. Donkeys have been known to invade campsites startle you awake you at night with their loud braying. They look mild but don't believe it. Do not pet or try to feed them and keep your distance when photographing them. Both donkeys and goats cause havoc to un-gated gardens. The goats, cows and pigs you see around look unattended but are all the property of someone. It is a mystery to many on the island how they are identified.

The small Indian mongoose was brought to the islands in the 1800’s as a method for controlling rat populations on sugar plantations. The intent was unsuccessful however because rats are primarily night creatures and mongooses day. They adapted well and are now common Virgin Island creatures, living primarily in rock crevices and holes AND although they were unsuccessful at controlling the rat population their fierce hunting abilities have led to the 7 extinctions in the West Indies.

Mongooses are monogamous. When the mate of a mongoose dies the survivor will never mate again.

Century Plants are the Christmas Tree of St. John.
If you are on the island in the spring you will notice sudden upshots of tall asparagus like plants that grow often to close to 30 feet. The bright yellow buds sprinkle the hills across the island. This plant only blooms once in its lifetime, after a few glorious weeks the blooms fade and become hard as the tree dies. Residents search out these crisp remnants and take them home to decorate as Christmas trees.

You will recognize the Tourist Tree ... that is the tree that is red and peeling...

The tall cylindrical Kapok tree with its strong wood and carving ease has been used by St. Jonians for canoe making since the 1700s. The fluffy seed pod was also used in the colonial era to stuff mattresses and chair pads, and now is often used to stuff boat cushions and lifejackets.

Aloe grows naturally on the island and is traditionally used to treat burns, insect bites, colds, asthma and ulcers. They say that if you split the leaf in two and extract the jelly the salve can be successfully used to remove wrinkles.

Sea urchins are often unidentified until they have been stepped on. Keep an eye out of them when wading in shallow waters, particularly near rock outcroppings. The black thorns of the sea urchin have arrow-like tips that are painful and difficult to extract if they become lodged in one’s foot. Lime juice is the local treatment for dissolving embedded spines.

It is said that the fruit of the Calabash Tree when roasted is a good treatment for menstrual cramps or to induced childbirth and that the leaf can be used in tea to treat colds, diarrhea, dysentery and headaches. The shells are often used as bowls, musical instruments or carved by artisans into interesting artifacts.

Termites create huge brown ball-like nests that you can easily see dangling from tree trunks. Termites, St. John visitors discover, do not kill these living trees.

Salt ponds are found around the island. The salt water becomes trapped away from the shore and evaporates in the warm island breezes leaving salt that is then harvested and used by many locals.

FOOD & RECIPES

The local West Indian dishes come from a mixture of African, European and Indian traditions passed down and enhanced with each succeeding generation. Many recipes originate from the plantation days when the slaves cultivated root gardens for their own eating and for sale at the Sunday markets. The staples consisted of sweet potatoes, yellow squash, peas and yams. Those local root vegetables, termed "provisions" could most often be counted on as they grew underground thus surviving most droughts and hurricanes. The provisions, along with their livestock and what they could harvest from the sea such as conchs, fish, turtles and whelks formed their diet.

Christmas means Guavaberry Liqueur. Although this specialty liqueur is now being commercially produced by a local company it is a native tradition for families to make their own personal stash. Usually made in anticipation of the holiday season, neighbors and friends exchange their special creation. Bottled in recycled rum bottles the liqueur should be fermented for a month or more to really shine. Guavaberries, grow throughout the Caribbean, Locally the berries are harvested at either the Guavaberry Farms or on Bordeaux Mountain, different recipes call for their own mixture of the guavaberries which grow yellow, orange and black. The berries are mixed with various liquors, vodka, rums and sometimes even 190 proof pure grain alcohol Depending on the family recipe the potency can be strong. Sugars, honey or other sweeteners are added and such spices as cardamom, mace and nutmeg, cinnamon and of course the local bay rum leaf.

St. John island favorite foods and recipes include: fungi, saltfish, lobster, red beans and rice, plantains, curried chicken, roti, pates, stewed mutton, conch fritters, johnny cake, pate, bull foot soup and red grout.

Caribbean Lobster has no claws, the meat is in the tail.
Roti - tortilla type flat bread, served as a wrapping for curried mixture of meat, or seafood and now often served as a vegetarian meal.
Bullfoot Soup - a stew like soup made of bull's feet, vegetables peas and carrots and local root vegetables with cornmeal dumplings
Red Grout - a cool, sweet and refreshing drink, its base is tapioca and guava juice. Often topped with thick fresh cream.
Johnny Cakes - deep fried unleavened bread usually served with fried fish or chicken.
Pates - fried dough with a slightly sweet and spicy filling of lobster, conch, chicken or beef. It is a favorite snack meal.
Mangos - grown locally are great as a dessert.
Conch - a mollusk and is tough until cooked. The sweet meat is often ground for fritters or pate fillings
Whelks - large marine snails best served in garlic butter on rice.
Vienna Cake - a plain cake layered with various fruit mixtures and mint jelly, flavored with rum and frosted.
The Local Tart - made of flaky crust and filled with a guava and coconut mixture.
Sweet bread - very much like a simple moist fruit cake.

USVI Holidays - St. John

US Federal holidays are celebrated. The government closes for all holidays and the banks close for many. Shops and restaurants are open except on major holidays. The tourism offices can provide you with a full listing of holidays.

Transfer Day (March 31) Commemorates the sale of the Virgin Islands to the United States

The St. John Festival (June-July) is a thirty-day holiday encompassing Organic Act Day (third Monday in June), Carnival (1st week of July) and Emancipation Day (July 3rd).

Hurricane Supplication Day (4th Monday in July)

Supplication Day

Martin Luther King Day

Organic Act Day - 3rd Monday in June

Emancipation Day - July 3rd
commemorates the Danes freeing slaves in 1848

MISCELLANEOUS TIDBITS

Coral Bay is not named for the coral that is so abundant around the island. One version is that the Danes thought the bay looked like a large corral and so named it Corral Bay. Other people, however, believe that the name is derived from the "Crawls" or pens for Sea Turtles that built in the harbor.

Easter Rock: Perched off the North Shore Road overlooking Caneel Bay, this egg shaped rock is said to roll down to the sea and back up again each Easter.

Mocko Jumbie: traditional symbol of Carnival is the "elevated spirit" on 10-20 foot stilts. Brightly colored costumes, traditions of west Africa.

Coral Bay may now be the dusty community on the island but 200 years ago it was the largest settlement on St. John, with the largest and best protected harbor in the Virgin Islands. It is the site of the original Danish Virgin Islands settlement on St. John. It played a key role in the island’s tragic slave revolt of 1733

MUSIC

Traditional local music on the islands includes Calypso, Reggae, Steel Pans and Scratch Bands

Scratch Bands originate from the time when found objects were fashioned into instruments of music and rhythm. Gourds, washboards, ukuleles and flute-like instruments

Traditional dance of the Virgin Islands is the Quadrille, dating back to the 18th century. Can be flirty and alive, or stately and stylized, varies from island to island.

RUM

West Indies is the birth place of rum starting early in the 1600s with the raising of sugar cane and the production of sugar, molasses and finally rum. In the mid 1800s the full bodied rums evolved into a lighter, drier, more flavorful rum.

The Cruzan Rum factory is on St. Croix. Ninety percent of the product goes stateside making it the largest export item of Virgin Islands. The rest remains here and is processed into a special VI rum. Customs allows an extra bottle over the 5 bottle duty free limit provided it is a Virgin Island rum

LOCAL FAVORITES

Pain Killer: 1.5 oz Pussers Rum, 1 oz Coconut creme, 1 oz Pineapple juice, 1 oz and OJ...nutmeg

Bushwhacker: Amoretta, Kahlua, creme de cacao), , baileys, rum, vodka, & coconut : equal parts blended with ice. Dressed with dribbled chocolate syrup and a cherry to mark it.

Lime'n Coconut: Rum, a fresh lime, and creme of coconut blended with ice.