The Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions (Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires) was created in 1987 by the Association "Les Coulisses", the former name of the commune of Saint-Esprit.
History
Saint Esprit is a town in the heart of southern Martinique. It is located south-west of Le François, east of Vauclin, north of Rivière-Pilote and Rivière-Salée and east of Ducos.
Saint Esprit owes its name to the name of his parish which honored the Holy Spirit. Saint Esprit means Holy Spirit in French.
The town was once called "Bourg des coulisses". The reference to the backstage comes to him from the slides that allowed the canes to descend from the top of the surrounding hills to the bottom mills. The Bourg des coulisses was created around 1756 following the division of the former “Cul-de-Sac-à-Vache” parish which brought together the current municipalities of Rivière-Salée, Trois-Ilets, Trou au Chat (Ducos) and Saint Esprit.
The Bourg des Coulisses, once a simple district, was set up as a municipality and a parish under the name of the Saint Esprit in 1758 and entrusted to the Capuchin monks.
A village gradually formed around the first church and the place d'Armes on the site of the current cemetery.
Probably following the hurricane of 1788, the church, the cemetery and the few houses in the village were moved to the east on a terrace sheltered from the floods of the Coulisses river.
It was in 1833 that the Saint Esprit was established as a commune.
At the end of slavery, the town will be regularly struck by epidemics of smallpox and especially yellow fever due to regular flooding. The town is drawn. The cemetery is far from the village is returned to its first location. The hospital was also built at the same time in 1855.
In 1870, Saint Esprit became a township. The same year, the town was affected by the uprising in the South which began in Rivière Pilote.
During 2 days from 22 to 24 September, 7 houses were set on fire in the town.
Economically speaking, Saint Esprit became more and more important with the creation of the central factories of Rivière Salée and Petit Bourg in 1871. The large plantations were now content to deliver their cane to factories or were transformed into distilleries.
The smallest produce cocoa and especially food.
The population of the heights of the village provides a large part of the workforce for these companies while the agglomeration retains its commercial, administrative and judicial functions.
Since 1950, the population has certainly declined following the closure of the two factories in Rivière Salée.
Bananas, citrus fruits and food products are then the preferred crops.
Economy
Le Saint-Esprit is a rural town where food crops concentrate a large part of the agricultural land.
In terms of tourism, the main asset of the municipality remains the Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires.
Neighborhoods
The main districts of the municipality are 7 Croisées, Baldara, Beauséjour, Bois Blanc, Bontemps la Cour, David, Dieuzede, Duchatel, Firmin, Fonds Coulisses, Fontenay, Four à Chaux, Grand Bassin Grosse Roche, Gogo, Grand Bassin, Grand Case, l'Avenir, la Capoul, la Carreau, la Ferme, la Nau, la Robert, la Suin, Laboissière, Lannuquette, Magdelonnette, Mathilde, Morne Babet, Morne Degras, Morne Lavaleur, Morne Vent, Moulin à Vent, Nicolas, Palmené, Peters Maillet, Petit Paradis, Placide, Providence, Régale, Regale Beauplan, Régale Fond la Pierre, Régale Modère, Rivière Moquette, Roussane, Saint Ange, Solitude, Suffin, Terres Gueydon, Thibault, Valatte, Vieille Citerne and Vieilles Terres.