Question

important features of Maldives

Answer 1

Maldivian Way of Life

Away from the tourist resorts, the Maldivian people live and work on their home islands much as they have done for centuries. This traditional and hard-working lifestyle is key to understanding the country. The combination of ancient and modern, Muslim and secular, and conservative and progressive elements in Maldivian society may be contradictory, but getting to know how locals live day-to-day is an enormously rewarding flip side to only meeting Maldivians working in resorts.

National Psyche

Maldivians are devout Muslims. In some countries this might be considered incidental, but the national faith is the cornerstone of Maldivian identity and is defended passionately at all levels of society. Officially 100% of the population are practising Sunni Muslims, and indeed, under the 2008 constitution, it’s impossible to be a citizen of Maldives if you are a non-Muslim. There’s no scope for religious dissent, which presents some serious human-rights issues, and apostasy for locals is still punishable – in theory at least – by death.

This deep religious faith breeds a generally high level of conservatism, but that does not preclude the arrival of over a million non-Muslim tourists to the islands every year, coming to bathe semi-naked, drink alcohol and eat pork. It’s definitely an incongruous situation, and one that has come under some strain since the tourist industry spread to inhabited islands. While the new guesthouses and hotels on inhabited islands enforce local standards of dress and behaviour, just the regular presence of foreigners on islands that have historically been isolated from the outside world has brought great change to traditional atoll villages.

Not quite Asia, not quite Africa and not the Middle East despite the cultural similarities, Maldives has been slow to join the international community (it only joined the Commonwealth and the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation in the 1980s, and withdrew from the former in 2016). Indeed, a deep island mentality permeates the country, so much so that people’s first loyalty is to their own small island before their atoll or even the country as a whole.

The hardship implicit in survival on these remote and relatively barren islands has created a nation of hard workers. The strong work ethic runs throughout the country; historically a lazy Maldivian was a Maldivian who didn’t eat.

Another feature of the Maldivian people is their earthy humour and cheerfulness. Joking and laughter is a way of life and you’ll notice this without even leaving your resort – take a few minutes to speak to the local staff and you’ll see exactly how true this is.

Lifestyle

The most obvious dichotomy in lifestyle in Maldives is between people in the capital Male and those ‘in the atolls’ – the term used by everyone to denote ‘islanders’ or anyone who lives outside the immediate area of Male.

In Male, life is considerably easier and more comfortable than in the rest of the country on most fronts, with the obvious exception of space. Life in one of the most densely populated places on earth is very crowded and can feel intensely claustrophobic. The past two decades of extraordinary growth have created a massive economy in Male, although many residents of the city complain that while there are plenty of opportunities to earn and live well in the commercial and tourism sectors, there’s a great lack of challenging, creative jobs if exporting fish and importing tourists are not your idea of fun. With limited education beyond high school and few careers for those who are ambitious but lack good connections, it’s no surprise that many young people in Male dream of going abroad, at least to complete their education and training.

On the islands things are far more simple and laid-back, but people’s lives aren’t always as easy as those in Male. In the atolls most people live on the extended family homestead (it’s unusual to live alone or just as a couple in a way that it wouldn’t be in Male), and both men and women assume fairly traditional roles. While men go out to work (in general either as fishermen or on jobs that keep them away from home for long stretches at a time in the tourist or shipping industries), women are the homemakers, looking after the children, cooking and maintaining the household. Fish are traded for other necessities at the nearest big island. Attending the mosque is the main religious activity, and on smaller islands it’s the main social and cultural activity as well.

The most important ritual in a male’s life comes when he is circumcised at the age of six or seven. These are big celebrations that last for a week and are far more significant than marriages and birthdays (the latter of which are generally not celebrated). Marriage is important, but it’s not the massive celebration it is in most of the rest of Asia.