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As the original Arawak Indians all died, Jamaican culture represents a rich blend of cultures that have since inhabited the island. The many people that make up the island include Europeans, Africans, and immigrants from the Middle East and Asia. Many different European influences were felt during the colonial period, and much of the island patois was influenced by Spanish, African, and Arawak words, despite Jamaica's status as a British colony.
The culture of Jamaica has been deeply influenced by the disparate societies that at various times colonized the island. Today, Jamaica's people blend traditions from African, European, Arabic, East Indian, Chinese, and East Mediterranean descent. The indigenous Arawak never rooted their culture in Jamaica, because they were largely wiped out by disease introduced by Spanish settlers. Britain's 300-year occupation is reflected in both language and customs of Jamaica.Edna Manley, wife of Norman Manley, Jamaica's first prime minister, was instrumental in bringing Jamaican art to the world's attention. From the 1920s until her death in 1987, Manley worked tirelessly to promote Jamaican music, sculpture, dance and other art forms.
Jamaican Music on the World Scene
It is perhaps reggae that first comes to mind when people think of Jamaica. Reggae, a distinctively syncopated style of Jamaican music, much of it highly political, is a music form that emerged from traditional indigenous Jamaican music with African and Black American roots, and was popularized in the 20th century by Bob Marley and others. It was a pervasive influence on rock music in the 1980s, especially in Britain. For his cultural contributions, Marley received Jamaica's third highest national honor -- the Order of Merit -- and was posthumously enshrined in the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the late 1990s.
Since the inclusion of a reggae category in the United States of America Annual Grammy Awards organized by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1989, several Jamaican artists have won awards.
Jamaica's folk music is said to have its origin in West Africa. The drum is central to all Jamaican music having ties to Africa. Many village bands use maracas, mbiras (and a bass mbira called a "rhumba box"), graters (cheese graters scraped with a nail), triangles, and glass bottles (struck with a stone or any hard object). Some groups also use a bamboo stick beaten with two other sticks and a machete struck with a metal beater. "Mento" is Jamaica's own original style of songs, instrumental music, and dancing. In a mento band, banjo and guitar play chords (or melody), a rhumba box or string bass plays the bass line, and melody may be played by fiddle, fife or piccolo, saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, or synthesizer.
Common Jamaican Traditions
Jamaicans, traditionally highly religious, celebrate many traditional Christian holidays. Christmas is typically observed by various denominations with Communion services, candlelight ceremonies, concerts, all-night prayer meetings and the singing of Christmas carols. The annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Kingston is a tradition that involves the turning on of hundreds of coloured bulbs on the tree, fire works display, singing of carols, Christmas messages and the distribution of gifts to the needy.
The Christmas Meal is still enjoyed by Jamaicans today. Ham is the traditional Christmas food. During slavery, ham was cured by smoking it in large baskets called kreng-kreng over a slow fire. Pimento was heavily used in spicing the meat. Because meat was scarce, this tradition was an especially important family practice for those who could afford it. Additionally, sorrel was used in a special drink at Christmas time.
The sorrel plant, like many of its relatives of the Hibiscus family, is probably indigenous to Jamaica as it is to other parts of the Caribbean, India, and Hawaii. The sorrel drink, a refreshing drink when cool is made by steeping the red ripe berries in boiling water. It is sweetened with sugar or syrup and flavoured with ginger, cloves, rum or brandy.
The matriarch would also make a special Christmas pudding, using fruits that have been soaked in wine or rum for weeks before Christmas.
The "Jonkonn" Festival (also called by several other variants throughout the Caribbean, including "Junkanoo") is secular in nature and its performance at Christmas time is merely historical. It was conceived as a festive opportunity afforded the slave class by the planter class, as Christmas was one of the few periods when the slaves were relieved of their duties. Jonkonnu dancers most often wore costumes that would depict a cow, a horse, the devil, the different categories of warriors and Indians, as well as a character known as "Pitchy-Patchy."
Pitchy-Patchy was usually the most flamboyant and athletic troupe member and appeared in both Jonkonnu and Masquerade bands. His costume would be made of layered strips of brightly colored fabric and layers of plant leaves.
The Devil carried a pitchfork and would wear a cowbell attached to his backside. The entire costume is black. Meanwhile, another male would play Belly Woman, a pregnant lady whose antics, especially her ability to make her belly move in time to the music, were designed to amuse the onlookers.Warrior Jonkonnu wears a foil-covered cardboard heart on his chest and strands of beads; his wooden sword is painted silver. In addition to the obligatory head cloth and mesh mask worn by all performers, warrior wears a cone-shaped headdress with feather or groups of feathers at the top of the cone, which is adorned with mirrors, cutouts and old newspaper photographs. Wild Indian wears a very similar costume with the exception that he carries a tall cane and cross-bow.
Jamaican Proverbs, Legends and Fables
Jamaicans invest a great deal of trust in the wisdom of folktales and proverbs. Some are handed down for many generations. The use of proverbs among Jamaican slaves was common. They would use this form of language to convey messages to each other while preventing their masters from understanding what they were saying. Some, such as "Mi come here fi drink milk, mi noh come here fi count cow". are intended as a reminder to conduct business in a straightforward manner. For examples of Jamaican proverbs, see the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica. Traditional Jamaican music, as well, often contains elements of proverbs. In addition, traditional storytelling is used to communicate a morale or common belief, as in the story of Anansi (a common African character):
Foolish Anansi thought he could trick a fisherman into doing his work for him. "Let's go fishing," he suggested.
"Very well," said the fisherman, who was clever and quite wise to Anansi's tricks. "I'll make the nets and you can get tired for me."
"Wait," said Anansi, "I'll make the nets and you can get tired for me!" Anansi made nets as his friend pretended to be tired. They caught four fish.
The fisherman said, "Anansi, you take these. I'll take tomorrow's catch. It might be bigger."
Greedily imagining the next day's catch, Anansi said, "No, you take these and I'll take tomorrow's fish."
But the next day, the nets were rotting away and no fish were caught. The fisherman said, "Anansi, take these rotten nets to market. You can sell them for much money."
When Anansi shouted, "Rotten nets for sale!" in the marketplace, people beat him with sticks.
"Some partner you are," Anansi said to the fisherman as he rubbed his bruises. "I took the beatings. At least you could have taken the pain."
Anansi never tried to trick the fisherman again!
Rastafari
The best know side of Jamaican culture is reggae music, and the Rastafarians who are recognised all over the world for playing what is a distinctively syncopated style that arose from another Jamaican sound, ska. Bob Marley, from Kingston, is doubtless the best known performer of this style.
Other
Derek Walcott, a Nobel prize laureate, attended college in Jamaica. Other significant writers from the island include Claude McKay and Louis Simpson. Plays and works in Jamaican English, or patois, attract special attention. Louise Bennett, Andrew Salkey and Michael Smith have contributed to this phenomenon by writing works in patois. Ian Fleming wrote his famous James Bond novels while living in Jamaica.
See also
For more information on Jamaican music, see Music of Jamaica.
For more information on the National Gallery of Jamaica, see National Gallery of Jamaica.
For more information on Rasta, see Rastafari movement.
For more information on the patois, see Jamaican English.
External Links
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