Christmas of yesteryear in Jamaica

Up to the end of the 20th century Christmas celebrations were more widely anticipated in Jamaica, secularly and religiously, than they are nowadays.

The days leading up to Christmas were full of feelings of excitement; school, church, home and community parties and concerts; expectations of getting new clothes, shoes and toys, for those whose families could afford them.

Then there were the traditional food and beverages, and this feeling of hope, peace, and joy brought on mainly by Christmas carols played on the radio.

“The event is usually marked by church services, Christmas carols, much visiting and exchange of gifts and greetings, family celebrations and special food and drink, as well as partying … Some have taken on the practice of decorating their house or yard with coloured lights and having lavishly decorated Christmas trees,” Olive Senior writes in Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage.

It was an aura also conveyed by the ‘Christmas breeze’, much cooler than the breeze of the months before Christmas. “Starting with the Christmas breeze, a special light and welcome wind that signals the imminent arrival of the favourite time of year.

Christmas Pop

“In the countryside, the sugar cane sends up its feathery plume to signal its ripeness and in gardens everywhere, lavish poinsettia, red and white, burst into bloom, as does a wild vine known as Christmas Pop,” Senior says.

“Special foods are associated with Christmas. Ripening in back gardens and making its appearance in the markets to herald the season is sorrel, to be made into the red-coloured drink without which Christmas is unthinkable, as well as gungo peas to be made into soup with the bone left over from the Christmas ham. A sweet yam called Yampi, also available at this time, is regarded as a special treat. In the old days, householders cured their own hams, but now prepared hams are available,” Senior recalls.

Creatures, such as pigs, fowls, cattle, and goats would also be slaughtered for commercial purposes, and domestic consumption, with neighbours, relatives, friends, and associates getting a piece of the Christmas meat. ‘Mannish water’ or ‘power water’ soup, containing ram goat meat was very popular, likewise curried goat meat, at parties.

The impatience to attend Christmas Eve grand market kept many people up at night on Christmas Eve’s eve. It was a night away, but people could not wait, for it was more festive than Christmas Day itself, when people basically stayed at home and stuffed themselves with delicious traditional food, like the black Christmas cake/pudding, sometimes drenched with rum.

Big board games, cotton candy, mercy-go-round, firecrackers, peppermint candy cane, snow cone, toy guns, water guns, dolls, fee-fee noise-markers, horns, hats made with coloured “tissue paper”, yo-yos, gigs, balloons (big and small) ice-cream on cones, boiled and roasted corns, and corn soup, were some of things that people, dressed in new clothes, looked forward to buy at Grand Market.

“A promenade down King Street on Christmas Day was once a feature of downtown Kingston, along with the traditional market, and a Christmas morning concert, now all vanished,” Senior writes. The grand market is still around, but not loaded with the same high level of excitement as in years gone by.

Biggest Holiday

Of course, there was traditional and contemporary music blaring, and Jonkunnu masqueraders scaring the joy out of children and some adults. The Jonkunnu tradition came out of slavery days, when Christmas was the biggest holiday for the enslavers and enslaved people.

“The three-day holidays beginning on Christmas Day took on a carnival-like atmosphere in the towns, and for a brief while a period of licence on the sugar plantation. The festivals were the occasions for the slaves to dress in all their fine clothes and jewellery, paying visits to the great house, on Boxing Day playing masquerade or Jonkunnu. They could look forward to an abundant supply of fresh beef, and other special rations,” Senior writes.

People, things and times have changed. High communication technologies have taken over the world, eclipsing the traditional and the sentimental. The sensibilities of Christmas of yesteryear in Jamaica, too, have changed, never to return. For those who have experienced them, it would be grand if they can share them with those who have not, for, Christmas of yesteryear in Jamaica was a great time to remember.

editorial@gleanerjm.com