Francophonie   ‘Dimans Romans’   |21 March 2022

To commemorate the ‘Fete de la Francophonie’ the Seychelles National Heritage Resource Council in collaboration with the Senior Citizen of the Living Heritage Project organised a ‘Dimans Romans’ yesterday at Domaine de Val des Pres, Au Cap.

The ceremony began with a mass service at the Pomme Canelles restaurant with a series of presentations celebrating our French heritage. This included the recitals of poems and songs.

The executive officer of the Seychelles National Heritage Resource Council, Benjamine Rose, said that they are celebrating our French heritage and that all the ‘romans’ that are sung are in French.

She said that it used to be popular in weddings as well as speeches addressed in French.

‘Dimans Romans’ is targeted towards an older audience and Ms Rose added that they also target children in the heritage club.

She said that they used to conduct ‘Dimans Romans’ annually though the last two years it was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Ms Rose said that ‘ladans kontredans’ is also done in ‘vals français’ and all these are brought together to celebrate our French heritage as part of our Seychelles culture.

Ms Rose added that this is also a way to share knowledge and history between the youths and older people. This is done by their participation in such activities as ‘Dimans Romans’ to understand the cultural value that will hopefully continue in the future generation.

The activity also brought out local vendors to encourage them to sell their products to add to the ambience.

‘Dimans Romans’ started early in the morning with avid participation from individuals from various districts such as Au Cap, Anse Royale, Beau Vallon and Takamaka. It was expected to end at around 6pm.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the ‘Dimans Romans’ event.

Marla Simeon

Photos by Joena Meme