Barber – Rais.cw

Barber – from 1827 the second Catholic parish of Curaçao – came only 80 years after the first church, the Santa Ana in Otrobanda, was built. This makes Barber the oldest rural parish of Curaçao. The church was built in the fertile Sint Jozefdal (St Joseph’s Valley) and the present presbytery is the former plantation house of Barber.

Around 1700 only the plantations Sint Marie and Leliënberg existed here, both belonging to the West India Company and managed by Jean Diederick Ohmheer. In between lay nothing but wild savannah where the cattle had all the room they wanted. How vast these lands were is shown by the fact that the following plantations have since arisen on this savannah in between: Barber, Dokterstuin, Pannekoek, Colonia, Fontein, Rif Sint Marie, Porto Marie, San Sebastian and Zevenhuizen (Jan Kock).

The plantations on Curaçao got going around 1660 and were the only settlements outside the city. Near them, communities of so-called free people, formerly enslaved people, took shape. The plantation Barbe, alias Cabrietenberg, dates from the early 18th century.

The name Barber

Barber lies east of Leliënberg, west of Patrick and the road to Westpunt, and north of Dokterstuin. It was originally 283 hectares in size, and sisal agave, indigo and some cotton were grown here. Barber was originally called Cabrietenberg (Goat Hill). There are two versions of the origin of the name Barber:

In baptismal registers the name of (one of) the first owner(s) of Kabrietenberg appears: Pedro Barber, a slave owner. He is probably the same person who is called Pierre La Barbe in the baptismal register of 1765, when he has a child, Pierre Rufo, baptised.

According to a second version, Kabrietenberg was a bone of contention between the surrounding owners of the plantations Leliënberg, Wacao and Patrick, because it was the pasture of the former government plantation Leliënberg. After Leliënberg was sold, it lay fallow with “many a covetous eye fixed on it”. A resolute lady, Barbara Exteen, beat the gentlemen to it, however: her parents owned the nearby plantation Ascension, and when she married Christiaan Jurriaansz Boom in 1711, they took possession of Kabrietenberg, built a house and at the same time applied to the government for ownership of the plot. Years of tug-of-war followed between Barbara and the government, which wanted her to leave the “unlawfully fenced-in land”, and just as many quarrels with the surrounding plantation owners. Barbara reached an agreement with her neighbours and peace returned. All the documents show that she always took the initiative, which is why the plantation was named after her in popular speech, a name that later became definitive. Barbara was widowed early, however: her husband died in 1729, and in 1739 she sold the plantation to Joseph Piñero Sillé, alias Shon Sille.

Catholic centre

Joseph Piñero Sillé, a descendant of a person of mixed descent, owned Barber from 1827 to 1832. The family lived in Otrobanda and stayed at Barber from time to time. Sillé was a devout practising Catholic and wanted to spare his family and the people he enslaved the long journey to the city to go to church. In 1827 he therefore offered pastor Niewindt the use of his own house at Barber for church services. Enslaved people from other plantations were also allowed to attend mass, if their masters permitted it. The turnout was so great, however, that Sillé had to find another solution. In 1828 he lent Niewindt – for 25 years – an old maize barn on his plantation. It had been built of mud and maize stalks, and Niewindt had it remarkably rebuilt with the help of enslaved people from Barber and from surrounding (Protestant!) owners: in long rows they marched with stones on their heads to raise the walls, under the direction of Adrianus Schoonen, the priest-architect who had also designed the original church of Pietermaai.

Later as many as 100 people gathered for catechism; many enslaved people were baptised and married in the barn, and on Sundays no fewer than 500 to 600 of them came together.

Seminary

In 1840 Niewindt founded a seminary in the plantation house next to the church, and in 1843 he set up the second printing press in the history of Curaçao, which was used to print school and history books for the people’s schools and churches that Niewindt built all over the island. The press cannot have been very large: pastor Brada writes that Niewindt took it along in his carriage when he drove to Brionplein (where the seat of the diocese was).

Barber was the Catholic centre of Curaçao and played an important role in spreading the Catholic faith in Bándabou. Niewindt was even reproached for spending more time at Barber than in the city. Through his activities Barber developed into the capital of the western part of the island, which is why it clearly has more inhabitants than other barios in Bándabou.

Opposition

Niewindt’s efforts met with opposition, however. At first the surrounding (Protestant) planters feared that gatherings of enslaved people would lead to revolts such as those of 1752 at Hato and 1795 at Knip. The governor also forbade Spanish-speaking priests to help Niewindt, and when Niewindt finally received royal permission to build a small chapel at Barber, the permit was held back for two years by the local Protestant administrators. The present church of Barber was built in 1872 and stands on the site of the former grain store. The first little church still exists: it now forms two classrooms of a school building. And, as mentioned earlier, the present presbytery is the former plantation house.

Joseph

That the parish church of Barber was dedicated to Saint Joseph probably has to do with the patron saint of the owner of the plantation – all the more so because the name was not translated, as was customary, to San Hose, as it would be in Spanish or Papiamentu. Sillé always signed with “Joseph”, even though his name was purely Spanish.

The church stands in the hofje (small estate) Sint Jozefdal, the name Niewindt gave to Hòfi Pastor in honour of Joseph Piñero Sillé. In popular speech, however, it remained Hòfi Pastor, which is now a nature park owned and managed by the environmental organisation Amigu di Tera. It borders Wacao, and at its centre stands a 70-metre-tall kapok tree that is said to be 800 years old, making it one of the oldest trees on Curaçao.

Raboe Joewana

From 1832 the plantation belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, bequeathed to Niewindt by Sillé in his will. In 1913 it was bought by the government (with the exception of Sint Jozefsdal and Raboe Joewana (Rab’i Yuana)), together with Leliënberg, Dokterstuin, Pannekoek and part of Wacao. The 1,379 hectares of land acquired in this way were divided into plots of 2 to 5 ha and leased out. With this, the government tried to breathe new life into small-scale farming in Bándabou and to break the pattern of concentrating agriculture only in Bándariba.

Rab’i yuana, or Raboe Joewana as written on the Werbata map, is a spot north of the church of Barber, towards Westpunt, and means iguana’s tail. It is a favourite spot of iguanas, judging by the countless lines they draw there with their tails.

A few years ago greenhouses stood here as part of an agricultural project of the late former prime minister Don Martina.

Remarkable residents

The curiosa (healer) Ma Jaja Felipa was particularly experienced in the use of herbs and one of the most consulted healers on the island. People came from as far as Kooral Specht and Jan Tiel to consult her. She never accepted money, only fruit and eggs. She lived at Bona Vista or Buena Vista near Patrick, south-east of the church of Barber and south-west of the former plantation Patrick. In popular speech Bona Vista is also called Seru Sjajo.

Maria Alejandra Tokaay was the last owner of Ser’i Sjajo, but her descendants spent 30 years trying to work out exactly what their rights were. They turned out to be the rightful owners, but by then so much illegal building had taken place – also by their own relatives – that, to avoid quarrels, the matter was left as it was.

Kaya Tomás Kokoti is named after Damasius Hoyer, who was born without legs and had only a thumb on his right hand (kokoti = crippled). According to Father Brenneker he was always cheerful, loved dancing, was married twice and had 4 children. He worked for the water supply and laid pipes in various neighbourhoods. He made shoes and wove baskets from the twigs of the calabash tree. Tomás Kokoti lived to the age of 85.

Shon Fina

At the house of Shon Fina there were regular parties with kai orgel (barrel organ) music. The ladies came in wooden buses from every corner of Bándabou, accompanied by their chaperones and carrying a small suitcase: at 12 o’clock at night they changed clothes, and all wore the same colour. The invitation would read, for example: “Bin balia bistí na trupiaal” (come and dance dressed as a troupial) – then you knew you had to bring orange clothes. The chaperones sat on the terrace and watched the dance floor through the shutters to see whether a young man was dancing too often with their protégée. The young lady in question was then immediately told so.

Marshe di Barber

Very popular, and not only in Bándabou, is the Marshe di Barber, which actually consists of the slaughterhouse and the market attached to it. It was built by the government in 1968 following a law introduced that year: for reasons of hygiene, animals from then on had to be slaughtered in a slaughterhouse. The slaughterhouse at Parera was too far away for the livestock farmers of Bándabou, and they did not always have proper transport. Slaughtering at Barber traditionally still takes place on Sundays, and the market has grown into a meeting place where, besides meat, plants, crafts and treats are sold. And of course local dishes such as kabes ku higra, arepa di pampuna and sòpi yuana (head and liver, pumpkin pancakes and iguana soup), but the pan será ku sanger (blood-sausage sandwich) is still the favourite.

The following places also lie in the bario Barber:

Sabana Chikí lies in the north of Barber and north of Cunucu Largu;
Cunucu Largu is a place in the middle of Barber, east of Baha Húndu;
Baha Húndu is a spot in the north-west of Barber and means steep slope;
Morgenster is a place north-east of Barber, west of Seru Machu;
Bou (di) Barber is an area west of Barber, south of Leliënberg, and means: west of Barber;
Den Colon is a place west of Cunucu Katoen and the Weg naar Westpunt, just before the church of Barber;
Asiento and Cuba are places south-west of Barber and east of Seru Maco;
Poz di Triton is a well on the road from Soto to Barber;
Cunucu di Katoen is a place east of Barber, south of the church;
Hanchi di Bani lies in the east of Barber;
Sabana Secu is a place west of the Weg naar Westpunt, east of Barber, and means Dry Savannah.

Other barios in the zone

Besides the bario of the same name, the Barber zone also includes the small neighbourhoods Sumbu, Striebeek, Bona Vista near Patrick (Ser’i Sjajo), Caridat, Duinkerken, Bisento, Colonia, Sin Pensar near Pannekoek, Sint Jozefdal and the plantation Dokterstuin. Sint Jozefdal and Bona Vista (Sjajo) have been discussed above; Dokterstuin has a page of its own.

Caridat is an uninhabited piece of government land, and Duinkerken (Dònkèrki) is private land consisting of five houses and three plots. Unlike the previous two neighbourhoods, the origin of the name Striebeek is known: Jozef Striebeek was overseer on the nearby plantation Patrick and received the piece of land from his employer. Transfer papers are missing, the descendants cannot claim it, and the land became dense mondi (wilderness). All three neighbourhoods are former farming and livestock areas.

Colonia, Sin Pensar near Pannekoek and Sumbu are residential neighbourhoods.

The name Colonia derives from Klein Colonie, an old name for the later plantation Pannekoek, of which Colonia was also part.

Sumbu lies in the catchment area of the rainwater that flows from the hills of Dokterstuin to Ascension. Since early times a lot of farming was done here and there were many fruit trees. Sumbu was divided into plots long ago, and most people here live on large pieces of land that used to be cultivated. Today some of the land is still used for farming. Most of the houses date from after the Second World War, with the odd new house in between.

Bicento is a kunuku (a small plantation) east of Pannekoek, along the road that leads from the Weg naar Soto to Ascencion. Bistro Laternu lies on the corner of this road.

Bicento is now a densely overgrown mondi with the remains of a small plantation house, a maize barn and a still unique, intact and skilfully built well, which may be regarded as a monument. It stands in the north of Bicento and has two finely finished pillars almost two metres high. Between these pillars there was once a beam with a pulley, bucket and rope for drawing water. “The well is deep, built of natural stone, plastered with lime, sand and crushed roof tiles. Diameter, outside measurement, 3.20 metres, thickness of the rim 50 cm,” according to Father Brenneker in Sambumbu. Next to it there is also a drinking trough for animals that was once lined with clinker bricks.

The well also bears a date and the name of the owner at the time: 17 February 1739, Gebhard Lubke. Lubke was a prominent member of the Lutheran church that once stood in Otrobanda, and he also once owned the nearby plantations Fontein and Giftenberg (the latter is now part of Cas Abao). At Giftenberg the Archaeological Working Group also found a well that had been built by Lubke in almost the same way.

The mangazina (storehouse) of Bicento was originally the large rain cistern of the plantation house. It was later converted into a storage shed after the plantation house had been demolished. Only the foundations of the plantation house remain.

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