Official language:
English

Other language:
French Creole

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• Religion is an important part of their lives and churches are plentiful
• Weddings and funerals in the Bahamas are especially important social events. People begin celebrating marriage weeks before the official ceremony begins, and the passing of loved ones is commemorated by parties long after they are gone
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• Christianity
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• Some Cat Islanders hang bottles from trees to protect themselves and their families from evil spirits
• They use the aloe Vera plant, for instance, to cure burns, relieve pain, and as a tonic and laxative.
• Cat Islanders, with their reputation for longevity, attribute bush medicine with keeping them healthy. They prepare internal and external remedies to relieve such symptoms as headaches, high blood pressure, diabetes, coughs, itching, etc
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• Seafood is the staple of the Bahamian diet. Conch (pronounced "konk") is a large type of ocean mollusk that has firm, white, peach-fringed meat. Fresh, uncooked conch is delicious; the conch meat is scored with a knife, and limejuice and spices are sprinkled over the meat. It can also be deep-fried (called "cracked conch"), steamed, added to soups, salads and stews or made into conch chowder and conch fritters. The Bahamian "rock lobster" is a spiny variety without claws that is served broiled, minced or used in salads. Other delicacies include boiled or baked land crabs, which can be seen, before they are cooked, running across the roads after dark.
• Fresh fish also plays a major role - a popular brunch is boiled fish served with grits, and when done right, is often the most flavorful way to enjoy the taste of a fresh catch. Stew fish, made with celery, onions, tomatoes and various spices, is another local specialty.
• Many dishes are accompanied by pigeon peas and rice (the infamous peas 'n' rice served throughout the Caribbean), with spices, tomatoes and onions.
• The Bahamian refresher of choice is coconut water (not the heavier, fattier coconut milk) blended with sweet milk and gin. There is also a drink called Switcher, made with native limes
  
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• Each island of the Bahamas has its own story that contributes to the fabric of the islands’ history. On Cat Island, once home to numerous cotton plantations established in the 1700s, visitors can explore vine-covered, semi-ruined mansions and stonewalls.
• Pinder’s Point was once actually four separate towns, each named after a white settler who owned the land.
• Williams Town was also founded by a freed slave, and some of his descendants still live there.
• Freetown, a village given its name because it was the first place that slaves were freed in 1834, is now just a cemetery and some rubble.
  The Bahamas is a Christian country with the largest number of churches per capita in the world.
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