As a child growing up in rural Jamaica, I found Christmas a very exciting time – a lot of fun. I looked forward to getting a new dress to wear to church on Christmas Sunday. Christmas chorals would be coming from every radio as early as November. The men would be standing or walking with their transistor radios on the highest volume. One could feel the fever in the air. It was a time of getting together with families and friends to celebrate more than just material things, of which we didn't have much, but rather life. The Christmas story was a meaningful and essential part of my life as a child. While we knew that our little gifts did not come from Santa Claus, because we did not know such a person, we knew that Jesus was the reason for Christmas.
Almost every adult would get Christmas work in the community under the 'crash program' given to the peasants by Public Works. This work ranged from a few hours to a few days. The men would cut the grass and trim the trees along the roads, while the women swept and gathered the rubbish, so the roads could be clean for Christmas. This was a chance for some to be able to buy a good Christmas dinner. I remember the women with their brooms in their hands and the men with their machetes waiting to start cutting the grass, while the women swept the street.
Almost every yard had whitewashed (snow-looking) stones and every house had new curtains (that was a must). The girls had little white dolls and boys little toy trucks or cars. The sound of music could be heard from every child via mouth-organs, whistle, bells and horns; you could tell it was Christmas.
Grand-market was a place where Christmas shopping climaxed. People gathered there like sand on the seashore. Being from farming communities, their main source of income was by selling their ground-produce. Most of the women sold their produce in the market to get money for their Christmas shopping. Then they would go home with lots of meat and fish to prepare for the big day. My mother would be up very late frying fish and marinating meat and finally putting up the new curtains for Christmas day. Christmas Eve was one of the busiest, and stores of every kind would be open until very late in the night, while some streets would be closed so people could travel safely and freely. There was much music and a variety of street activities. Christmas was the atmosphere.
Christmas morning church service was at six. The order of service would be shorter with lots of carols. Then everyone headed home to start cooking.
Food was a significant part of the Christmas celebration. The traditional menu consisted of curried goat and rice and peas for Christmas dinner. Most people in the rural area where I grew up would butcher the goat(s) on Christmas morning. The number of goats depended on how big the family or the gathering was. There was also the goat 'belly' soup or 'manish' water. Breakfast would be a combination of dishes such as ackee and salted fish (cod), which is our national dish, with fried dumplings and/or cooked green bananas with steamed or escoviech fresh fish, or goat liver/kidney and hard-dough bread. Jamaican black rum cake was a must, which would be baked a week or two prior to Christmas, along with sorrel, a Jamaican Christmas drink. As a child, my Christmas gift was always a little white nurse doll.
My first Christmas in Canada, was different, of course. It was cold and the ground was covered with beautiful white snow, and we spent Christmas indoors. I could stand outside in Jamaica and look up in the sky at the stars; in Canada, looking from inside, I could see only ice hanging from the trees. But the taste of Jamaica was always there when all the siblings and other family members gathered at our sister's home for the traditional Jamaican Christmas dinner – curried goat with rice and peas, a slice of black cake, a cup of goat 'belly' soup.
