Artisanship was crucial to the Moravian ideology of land tenure and played a significant role in their efforts to attract new converts. Protestants highly valued free choice in ensuring authentic conversions, therefore they made sure to steer clear of coercion, even in situations where Franciscan authority was backed by a local garrison. The Moravians always prioritized religious conversion.
Artisanship and natural knowledge were considered moral and practical tools for conversion, hence they were secondary to the instruction and adoption of the New Testament. Artisanship enabled the missionaries to lead through demonstration and to overcome the language and cultural obstacles with the people they aimed to convert. Converts were sometimes trained to generate revenue for the missions. In the West Indies and Surinam, the Moravians taught and utilized a considerable amount of slaves as tailors.
The Moravians strongly supported church music and viewed hymns as a universal language of the spirit. They also believed that work encouraged religious reflection. Converts could learn piety through collaborative work while missionaries were still learning the basics of the local languages. The Moravian missionary goal included a vision of Indians and Europeans collaborating peacefully and joyfully together.
The agrarian values were tested at every mission post. In the West Indies, the land had been extensively developed and controlled by plantation owners for a significant period of time. The initial aspiration of the first Moravians to offer themselves as slaves in order to reach out to the slaves was discarded before the mission commenced. The Moravians made an agreement with certain plantation owners who were more oriented towards evangelical beliefs. These owners valued the obedience of pietist slaves as it reduced the likelihood of rebellion. The Moravians were willing to preach that slaves’ obligation to obey their owners was in complete harmony with biblical doctrines.
Land tenure in Moravian gardens in the West Indies adhered to two models. The missionaries relied on the plantation owners for their food, which was produced in the plantations’ gardens. Large plantations could feature various gardens growing different types of produce, distinguished by social purpose, plant species, and location, in addition to the cane fields. Christian Oldendorp (1721–87) provided the most comprehensive descriptions and analysis of the Moravian economic reaction to the presence of plantation gardens after spending eighteen months visiting these villages.
He described plantation gardens as typically having a courtyard or garden around the buildings where fruits like bacove, bananas, and similar plants are grown. Vegetable gardens were placed in distinct courtyards. Plantations, designed to suit the preferences of their owners for extravagances, sometimes had “coffee courtyards” for the owners’ personal crops. Occasionally, a “pleasure garden” focused primarily on flowers, though it was not common.
Moravian land tenure rules differed based on whether missionaries depended on a plantation owner’s infrastructure or were able to buy plantation land, granting them more independence. Plantation owners typically assigned slave families their own garden plots to cultivate and care for during their free time, usually on Saturday afternoons or Sundays. Slaves might engage in trading for other items when they had excess production. Plantation slave societies were structured into three hierarchical categories based on protoindustrial class distinctions: house slaves, craft slaves, and field slaves. House slaves were responsible for overseeing the food supply and related tasks.
The skilled laborers, such as blacksmiths, tailors, and carpenters, closely embodied the Moravian vision of a self-sufficient community of potential converts. These included overseers like the bomba, the sugar cook, and the rum distiller. Field slaves performed strenuous and demanding work in the cane fields.