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Friday, December 19, 2008

Merry Jamaican Christmas

http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/WT/christmas-tree-with-gifts-flipbook.jpg




I found this from an old article on Jamaicans.com, I love the message, enjoy.

"Jamaicans like the rest of the world celebrates the Christmas season in two forms; the first is celebrated in a religious aspect based on Christianity; in that it is considered a holy season marked by religious services to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. The second, incorporates many secular customs such as gift giving, feasting, and having a good times, that have been handed down through families and borrowed from other cultures

The old Jamaican religion based on the Roman Catholic and Anglican faith that we inherited from the British rule, traditionally starts the sacred Christmas season with Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and continues through Christmas Day to end on Epiphany, January 6.


In addition to this church members would go out early in the mornings singing Christmas carols under candle light while moving from house to house on the mornings leading up to Christmas. On Christmas Eve, some churches around the island would hold evening services to include a dramatization of the biblical story of Jesus’ birth, or at midnight some may hold a special candlelight services called the midnight Mass. Many families attend church on Christmas Eve and open their gifts that evening. Others wait until the next morning to exchange gifts.

An Christmas morning activity has been dying but seem to making a comeback is that of Kuminna. It is a Jamaican folk dance where persons would be masked or dress up in costumes to depict the devil, the cow, Pitchy patchy and other characters, go out dancing in the street on Christmas mornings progress of from door to door to receive gifts of food and drink. Their costumes and dance moves were of such that they would scare the little children to tears, as they believe that the characters were real.

Have a wonderful Christmas


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