The importance of saying "Mawnin" three times in Bahamian Culture

Here’s the way people with good ole fashion Bahamian broughtupcy say ‘Good Morning’:

“Mawnin’ Mawnin’ Mawnin’”

Now here’s our response to people that don’t have the courtesy to say “mawnin’ mawnin’ mawnin’”:

1. UNE GOT NO BROUGHTUPCY HEY

2. WOW, NO MANNERS

3. YINNA RUDE CHIRREN

4. I SLEEP WITH YOU LAST NIGHT AYE

5. GO BACK OUT ‘N’ TRY AGAIN

Depending on which establishment you enter without saying mawnin’ mawnin’ mawnin’ you will get various responses that it is not limited to the list above. Enter cautiously.

In The Bahamas, there is an unspoken, understood, collective set of values and rules that we are all governed by and follow. These are not laws, they are not written, they are not even directly taught or passed down to you by your parents or school teachers growing up. They just exist and saying mawnin mawnin mawnin is one of them. 

For the most part, Bahamians are pretty respectful, polite and chill people, obviously with the exception of the CYC committee that is called in when another country comes for our own people. In instances like that we have to rally the Bahamians that know when to drop the the polite demeanour and switch it up with the Royal Bahamian “bussing ya with conch” defense.

So other than that, we got plenty of manners, bruh. One of the most important rules we follow is saying ‘good morning’. Here’s what you need to know to follow along accordingly:

1. It’s not good morning, its mawnin mawnin mawnin.

2. You must say it three times fast upon entering any establishment in the morning to greet people that are there.

3. The reason you say it three times is to ensure even the person hard of hearing will/ can get an opportunity to hear you.

4. This is good broughupcy, it shows you have house training and ya mother raised you right.

5. If you do not say mawnin mawnin mawnin, someone will probably say, “I sleep with you last night hey?” Don’t be alarmed, the answer is no, but this is to show you have not seen them for the day which means it's impolite to not say good morning. 

6. This is a Bahamian thing, but it is also common practice in other Caribbean countries. If you greet people and say good morning in parts of the world where this is not common practice, they will look at you strange. 

I remember one time after being in college and severely use to the culture in Canada, where time and time again no one and I MEAN NO ONE would answer me when greeted them, no matter what time of day it was and definitely not in the morning. I started to acclimate to not speaking when I entered places (I know, i know, don’t forget where you come from, don't conform, manners will take you around the world but, I was tired of talking to the walls okay!)

Anyways I came back home for a visit. I finally touched down in LPIA, happily breathing in the Bahamian air with the porters saying "gorgeous, you need help with your luggage” and I had to politely decline because I'm a strong independent black woman. 

There I was with all my suitcases ready to start my summer break. I had a little wait before my next flight home to Eleuthera so I say let me go sit down and catch a little break. I found this seat on the side of the airport. There was an elderly lady was sitting there. I leaned my bags up next to side of the chair and put my backpack in the other chair and plunk down. Exhausted. 

5 seconds go by

10 seconds go by

30 seconds go by

“Well I sleep with you last night?”

Me look up, turn my head left and puzzled

"Umm no."

“Well then the proper thing to do is to say GOOD MORNING”

Listen, if the ground could have opened up and swallowed me, I would have let it. A blanket of shame covered my whole body. I let Canada make me  a rude, no manners gyal. WOW.

I said in the most shy, timid, voice, “my apologies, good morning”

Boy listen, that was the first and last time I ever forgot my manners in The Bahamas again!

I think saying mawnin to people goes far beyond manners and broughtupcy. It is our history and it demonstrates our values in acknowledging our community and those around us even though we may not know them. It probably comes from a time when our population was small and everyone knew everyone. That is surely still common on the islands. Growing up in Eleuthera, everyone knew who you were or at least who your people was. So although I wasn't always greeted by my first name Kaché, you can bet that they for sure called me Ms. Knowles or Knowles when they wanted to let me know the “I see you and I know who ya people is, so you bettas act like sense”. 

I remember when I went out as a teenager, ANYTHING I DID, ANYONE I WAS WITH, ANYWHERE I WENT, my parents knew before I even stepped foot through the door when I got back home. So you really had to act accordingly and for some that started with a simple mawnin mawnin mawnin to everyone you saw in the morning. 

When I started I is a Bahamian bey back in 2019, mawnin mawnin mawnin was one of the first posts I ever created. It also is one of the most popular shirt designs I have– LITERALLY ALWAYS OUT OF STOCK. 

I recently transformed the original mawnin mawnin mawnin design. I took the original design and digitally added it to a teabag. This has now been printed on mugs. The inspiration behind this design came from the importance of saying mawnin in our Bahamian culture which is equally as important as a cup of tea. 

There is something about a cup of tea for Bahamians. It is a warm hug on a bad day, it's your problem solving bestie, it's a reminder to put yourself first, its self care, its healing, it just makes everything better. 

Y’all know the Bahamian song, Monday stress, Tuesday stress, Wednesday stress, Thursday stress, Friday Stress, Saturday Stress, Sunday, the only rest day stress? I swear in that song they just ain't had no tea. That really was the problem yanno. 

I wanted to launch this design for Christmas for my tingsmas pop up market, but it never worked out. I posted the designs, people loved it.

I just could not find the right supplier to make it happen so I had to table the design. Finally in March I decided that people deserved this design and this mug so I pulled the trigger, going against the strongly worded advice of my finance business advisor LOL. 

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut. Your gut and intuition can tell you something numbers can’t. And let me tell you people buying this yanno. It has been a pleasure being able to see one of my artistic designs on a new product offering (like a mug) come to life. The Mawnin mug resonates so much with the importance of broughtupcy and Bahamian tea in the mawnin. 

It also inspired me to create this amazing short film of my experience of not saying mawnin mawnin mawnin. The video has resonated with Bahamians and other countries in the Caribbean has since reached 40k+ views on instagram, 75k+ views on Facebook and 24k+ views on TikTok. Please see below.

Someone commented from Trinidad saying that they only say it twice. Another person mentioned they saying mawnin mawnin mawnin in Turks. Then there was someone from Pinewood that said they don't say morning at all LOL. 

A couple days after posting the video, I went to Potter's Cay Dock to send a package to Freeport. A man approached me and said he recognized me from the video. He went on to share that he was having such a bad day and when he came on tiktok and saw the video it brought him so much joy and turned his day around. Wow! I was so shocked and so thankful he decided to share that with me. I'd be sitting on that video idea for almost a month before finally executing it and posting it. A reminder to myself and anyone reading this that what you offer the world is enough if its helping just one person, so share your gifts with the world!

Mawnin' Mug

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Anyways next time you go into any establishment, don’t forget to mind ya manners.