written by Vivienne Grant and Kareem LaTouche
The celebration of Christmas in Jamaica stirs happy feelings, memories, smells, sights and sounds. Whether some celebrate the Holy Day or just the Holiday, with its accompanying ‘jollification,’ KRISMUS, as we Jamaicans pronounce it, is a special season. It brings smiling faces and cool temperatures on warm, sunny days, which seep into our spirits and souls.After a lengthy process, Kareem’s Quest came up with the Top things Jamaicans do for Christmas, here goes! You can also check out our video below as we reminisce about ole time Jamaican Christmas.
Watch our Christmas Traditions
11. Washing Figurines/ Chinaware
The washing of intricately made figurines and crockery/chinaware are Christmas preparation duties usually carried out by teen girls and women in the home. Great care had to be taken by the washers. Also, what-nots, dressers and chest of drawers must be dusted and polished before returning figurines. China cabinets and Breakfronts were similarly treated and paper-like doilies were replaced by new ones.
Similarly, curtains/drapes were taken down, washed and replaced by new ones.
10. COOKING HAM
Ham could be considered a Christmas staple in many Jamaican homes. Kareem’s Quest acknowledges that there are people who do not consume the meat of the pig. Respect.
Some women folk cure their own ham, while others choose from the many brands available.
The boiling and baking of ham produced an aroma like no other. This activity definitely ushers in the festive season.
9. EXCHANGING SOFT DRINKS BOTTLES
Another act of cleansing for the Christmas was the washing of glass bottles that contained soft drink or beer, before they were taken to shops to exchange for filled bottles or cash.
8. WHITEWASHING
During the Yuletide season there is a manifestation of a spirit of cleansing, renewal and a will to start over.
The boys and men were assigned to whitewash the lower sections of tree trunks, stones around the flower gardens and fences. Further to this, the spirit of forgiveness would prompt neighbour’s and relatives to make peace where malice existed. It continued with neighbours and friends sharing crops like gungo peas, sorrel, ‘sauf’ (soft) yam and tangerines.
7. GREETINGS FROM ACROSS THE WORLD
Clarence Royes, a Jamaican who migrated to England, understood that as Christmas approached there was a longing within the Jamaican diaspora to connect to the land of their birth. In 1987 Royes made a bold plan which gave Jamaicans in England the opportunity to send Christmas greetings to friends and relatives in their native land.
Jamaica National Building Society sponsored the programme and Television Jamaica facilitated its airing. This marriage (JN and TVJ) is still flourishing. Many Jamaicans at home look forward to hearing greetings and seeing their loved ones on television.
Upon Mr. Royes’ exit from the stage of life, his daughter, Krystia committed to continuing the show. The programme has expanded to other Caribbean countries like the Cayman Islands. It allows Jamaicans not only to send greetings to their relatives, but to publicly reminisce about that which they long to have.
KareemsQuest says, Walk Good Mr. Royes and Thank You Krystia.
6. PEPPER LIGHTS
Pepper lights required not only the skill of detangling, but how to manage series lights, where, if one bulb blew, the entire thing stopped working.
Strings of Christmas lights to be detangled are all part of the preparations for Christmas decorations. The original Christmas lights were called ‘pepper – lights’ because, they looked like multi- coloured Scotch Bonnet peppers.
Over the years pepper lights have been available in a single colour, such as: white, green, red and so on. These lights decorate inside and outside homes, business places, plazas, parks and even some churches. In some housing schemes, owners competed and the best decorated house received an award.
5. SEASONAL TOYS
By the third week of October, the Christmas cards with the balloons were prominently displayed in all grocery shops. In addition, children spent many pennies buying tickets, hoping with every purchase they will pick the number to win the big balloon.
Seasonal Toys like ‘clapppers’ did not only scare dogs, but they also scared girls and women. By the first week of December the screams of teenage girls, and sometimes female teachers, in co – educational schools began, when mischievous boys threw rubber lizards and snakes onto their desks or on the ground close to the ‘victims.’
Some of these rubber reptilia bounced and seemed to be alive. Laughter filled the air, even some victims laughed at themselves.
Dogs are the only unhappy creatures at Christmas time. The sound of exploding firecrackers – big and small – along with ‘chi – bum’, which was vigorously thrown to the ground where they would explode, scared dogs and some humans.
4. GRAND MARKET
In Jamaica, Grand Market is the last hurrah of Christmas shopping and selling on Christmas Eve, December 24. Vendors and buyers carry out their activities to the sounds of Christmas songs, as well as, dancehall, reggae, soca, mento and every genre of Caribbean music. KareemsQuest reminds readers that an integral part of the Christmas fun in Jamaica is Jonkunoo.
Jonkunoo dancers masqueraded in parish capitals, town centres and villages entertaining some while scaring others mostly children. Predominantly male dancers masquerading as characters of Pitchy Patchy, Belly Woman, Rolling Calf and others, they are given monetary tokens by shoppers for their dances. They perform at Christmas time, as their ancestors did on the slave plantations, when they would ridicule the white owners, whilst the latter would think they were being entertained.
Bargaining vendors and buyers, babies on the shoulders of mothers, booming speakers, sightings of Rolling Calves in rural areas, cotton candies, packed markets and streets, were Grand Market scenes. As Christmas morning drew closer, prices were lowered, sounds and sulphuric smells of firecrackers in the air, yelping dogs, starlights and feathery fee- fee balloons, were all a part of the sights, sounds, tastes of Grand Market.
Tragedy Struck
It was Christmas Eve, December 24, 1985. Dawn moved smoothly into a warm December day. Vibrant Christmas activities were obvious in the squares and Premier Plaza, Constant Spring Road was no exception. The joy of the season was visible and audible, with families prowling the streets. Vehicular traffic was bumper to bumper. A vendor was doing thriving business in this Plaza, using a gas cylinder to fill balloons with helium. Jamaicans refer to these as ‘gas balloons’.
In a breath, happy noises ceased and a loud explosion ripped the air up to three miles away. In the end, twenty two persons were injured and three killed.
3. GUNGO PEAS
Fresh, green gungo peas, known in some countries as pigeon peas, are a must for Jamaican Christmas Dinner. The crop is usually ready for reaping and sale in November. Like sorrel, gungo is sold shelled and bagged and in bundles by the pound.
Older Jamaican folk prefer the latter, as they believe they will get a larger quantity of gungo peas for less money. Shelling of gungo peas was a chore relegated to the aged and children within the home. Little girls did not like this chore because small green worms would sometimes be present when the pod was popped open. Naughty brothers got a thrill from throwing these green worms on their sisters’ hair. Many ‘almost full’ basins of peas have been overturned because of the ‘screaming, jumping’ sisters.
The sight of green worms will always bring smiles to grown siblings’ faces.
The smell of green gungo peas being cooked with rice and ham skin or bone, leads to dancing saliva and stomach.
When Christmas is over, and the new year is about to ring in, the gungo peas are used to cook soup. The bubbling pot of green gungo soup with the same ingredients and additional corned ‘hoghead’ and pigs’ tails bring gastronomic joy to the nostrils, salivary glands, tongue and stomach.
2. SORREL
Where there is Christmas cake there must be Sorrel wine/drink. The sale of Sorrel started about the end of October into November. It was sold by the pound or bundle or picked and bagged. Sorrel is prepared by boiling or ‘drawing’ with chunks of ginger, adding dried pimento seeds, white rum and/or Shim’s/Red Label Wine, sweetened with sugar, then bottled (preferably glass). A few grains of rice were added to help the fermenting process.
Some women prepared bottles of sorrel wine without rum adding only fruit wine. These were largely for children and adults who did not ‘take strong drinks’.
KareemsQuest wants you to know that a bottle or two of Sorrel is always stashed away in many Jamaican homes and available especially to ‘foreign’ visitors.
1. FRUIT CAKE
The excitement of the Christmas season begins October to November, with the soaking of fruits, like currants in wine and white rum. KareemsQuest reminds readers that some Jamaicans soak their fruits as early as February.
Christmas cakes aka Black Cake or Fruit Cake is a must in Jamaican homes during the Yuletide season. In addition, Christmas puddings (English Plum Puddings) and definitely sweet potato puddings are a part of the festivities.
The smell of Christmas cakes and puddings being prepared, flowed through houses and the neighborhoods. An important ritual upon completion of the mixing of cakes and puddings was wiping the mixing bowls with the index finger, then licking the batter off it.
For this reason, children were always willing to wash these bowls.
The cooking apparatus were many, there were: zinc pan ovens, brick ovens, he’ll- a -top, hell- a- bottom ovens and modern ovens, all producing delectable cakes and puddings.
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