WCarnival in French Guiana is a major event. Its style is described as Afro-Caribbean. A moveable holiday, it takes place between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, ending on Mardi Gras. Known internationally for its Paré-masqué balls and its emblematic character, the Touloulou, it is considered the longest carnival in the world.
WThe Carnival of Cayenne is the most famous of French Guiana Carnivals. This carnival is renowned around the world for the diversity and originality of its costumes. Together with the Kourou Carnival and the Saint-Laurent Carnival, it is one of the most important carnivals in the region.
WThe coat of arms of French Guiana, a région of France located in South America, consists of a boat full of gold on a green river, charged with three white water lilies. In chief, the fleurs-de-lis of France appear beneath the date 1643. On either side of the shield is an anteater.
WLa Compagnie Créole is a popular French pop band from French Guiana and the French West Indies, who started singing in the 1980s. They originally started singing in Creole but quickly adopted French as their main language. They are known mostly for the feel-good and happy-go-lucky quality reverberating in all of their songs: popular themes and imagery include colorful rainbows, sunshine, music and harmless animals as a positive morale booster all set to Caribbean rhythms. Many of their records have been produced by Daniel Vangarde.
WThe flag of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America, is the French flag. The local government use a white flag with the silhouette of the French Guiana map and four arrows that reference the Maroon people.
WFrench Guianese Creole is a French-based creole language spoken in French Guiana, and to a lesser degree, in Suriname and Guyana. It resembles Antillean Creole, but there are some lexical and grammatical differences between them. Antilleans can generally understand French Guianese Creole, though there may be some instances of confusion. The differences consist of more French and Brazilian Portuguese influences. There are also words of Amerindian and African origin. There are French Guianese communities in Suriname and Guyana who continue to speak the language.
WThe Touloulou is the most famous of the typical characters and the queen of Guianan carnival.