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in the 19th
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1801
from The Diary of Lady Nugent, describing her first Christmas in Jamaica:
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25th. Christmas Day! All night heard the music of tom-toms, &c. Rise early, and the whole town and house bore the appearance of a masquerade. After Church, amuse myself very much with the strange processions, and figures called Johnny Canoes. All dance, leap and play a thousand antics. Then there are groups of dancing men and women. They had a sort of leader or superior at their head, who sang a sort of recitative, and seemed to regulate all their proceedings; the rest joining at intervals in the air and the chorus. The instrument to accompany the song was a rude sort of drum, made of bark leaves, on this they beat time with two sticks, while the singers do the same with their feet. Then there was a party of actors. Then a little child was introduced, supposed to be a king, who stabbed all the rest. They told me that some of the children who appeared were to represent Tippoo Saibs children and the man was Henry the 4th of France. What a mélange! All were dressed very finely, and many of the blacks had really gold and silver fringe on their robes. After the tragedy, they all began dancing with the greatest glee. We dined in the Council Chamber, but went to bed early, but not to rest, for the noise of singing and dancing was incessant during the night.
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26th The same wild scenes acting over and over again. |
and three years later:
1804 December
22nd. Take my drive, and Mr. and Mrs. Kemble set off for Kingston, at the same time. It is a foolish marriage, but I hope they may prosper. - After breakfast, little G. distributed money to the black servants for Christmas.
24th. All the blackies half mad with their preparations for to-morrow.
25th. Christmas Day. - We both went to church, at 10. A long service, and, in my present weak state, very fatiguing.
26th. Nothing but bonjoes, drums, and tom-toms, going all night, and dancing and singing and madness, all the morning. - The Horsfords, the Grandjeans, &c. at second breakfast, and to see the sports at the King’s House. Some of our blackies were most superbly dressed, and so were several of their friends, who came to join in the masquerade; gold and silver fringe, spangles, beads, &c. &c. and really a most wonderful expense altogether. General N. gave the children money, and threw some himself among them from the gallery, and in the scramble all the finery was nearly torn to pieces, to my great vexation. However, they seemed not to mind it, but began dancing with the same spirit as if nothing had happened, putting their smart clothes into the best order they could. We gave them a bullock, a sheep and a lamb, with a dollar to every person in the house, from the oldest individual to the youngest infant; besides a complete new dress, with two changes of linen. - This is the case every Christmas, and at all festivals they have a present of clothing. Perhaps, however, it is more than is usually done; but, for the short time we are with them, we will make them as happy as we can.
27th. Noise all night; and, if possible, to-day worse than ever. - At dinner we had only Captain Quayle of the Artillery, in addition to our little party. - At 9, all was profoundly quiet throughout the town; for almost every woman as well as every man was so exceedingly tipsy, they could do nothing but sleep; and I may say, too, so thoroughly fatigued with their dancing and masquerading, poor things! though people say, they are all really so drunk they are unable to move.
28th. Order again restored, and all going on as usual. - Poor General N. much harassed and vexed, by the dispute between Colonels Horsford and Gordon. They are both married men, and have families, which adds much to his anxiety to reconcile them.
22nd. Take my drive, and Mr. and Mrs. Kemble set off for Kingston, at the same time. It is a foolish marriage, but I hope they may prosper. - After breakfast, little G. distributed money to the black servants for Christmas.
24th. All the blackies half mad with their preparations for to-morrow.
25th. Christmas Day. - We both went to church, at 10. A long service, and, in my present weak state, very fatiguing.
26th. Nothing but bonjoes, drums, and tom-toms, going all night, and dancing and singing and madness, all the morning. - The Horsfords, the Grandjeans, &c. at second breakfast, and to see the sports at the King’s House. Some of our blackies were most superbly dressed, and so were several of their friends, who came to join in the masquerade; gold and silver fringe, spangles, beads, &c. &c. and really a most wonderful expense altogether. General N. gave the children money, and threw some himself among them from the gallery, and in the scramble all the finery was nearly torn to pieces, to my great vexation. However, they seemed not to mind it, but began dancing with the same spirit as if nothing had happened, putting their smart clothes into the best order they could. We gave them a bullock, a sheep and a lamb, with a dollar to every person in the house, from the oldest individual to the youngest infant; besides a complete new dress, with two changes of linen. - This is the case every Christmas, and at all festivals they have a present of clothing. Perhaps, however, it is more than is usually done; but, for the short time we are with them, we will make them as happy as we can.
27th. Noise all night; and, if possible, to-day worse than ever. - At dinner we had only Captain Quayle of the Artillery, in addition to our little party. - At 9, all was profoundly quiet throughout the town; for almost every woman as well as every man was so exceedingly tipsy, they could do nothing but sleep; and I may say, too, so thoroughly fatigued with their dancing and masquerading, poor things! though people say, they are all really so drunk they are unable to move.
28th. Order again restored, and all going on as usual. - Poor General N. much harassed and vexed, by the dispute between Colonels Horsford and Gordon. They are both married men, and have families, which adds much to his anxiety to reconcile them.
King's House, Spanish Town, Adolphe Duperly, 1844.
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1823
Cynric R Williams, A Tour Through the Island of Jamaica from the Western to the Eastern End in the Year 1823, 1826
I was grumbling in imagination at the incessant clamour of the cocks on the morning of Christmas Day, when my ears were assaulted with another sort of music, not much more melodi[o]us. This was a chorus of negroes singing “Good morning to night cap" and “health to master and mistress." They came into the house and began dancing. I slipped on my dressing gown and mingled in their orgies, much to the diversion of the black damsels, as well as the inmates of the house, who came into the piazza to witness the ceremonies. We gave the fiddler a dollar, and they departed to their grounds to prepare their provisions for two or three days, and we saw no more of them till the evening, when they again assembled on the lawn before the house with their gombays, banjos, and an old drum, made of a hollow tree, with a piece of sheep's skin stretched over it. Some of the women carried small calabashes with pebble in them, stuck on short stick, which they rattled in time to the songs, or rather howls of the musicians. They divided themselves into parties to dance, some before the gombays, in a ring, to perform a bolero or a sort of love-dance as it is called, when the gentlemen occasionally wiped the perspiration off the shining faces of their black beauties, who, in turn, performed the same service to the minstrels. Others, performed a sort of pyrrhic before the obo drummer, beginning gently, and gradually quickening their motions, until they seemed agitated by the furies. They were all dressed in their best; some of the men in long-tailed coats, one of the gombayers in old regimentals; the women in muslins and cambrics with coloured handkerchiefs tastefully disposed around their heads, and ear-rings, necklaces and bracelets of all sorts, in profusion.
The entertainment was kept up till nine or ten o'clock in the evening and during the time they were regaled with punch and sanda [sic] in abundance they came occasionally and asked for porter and wine. Indeed a perfect equality seemed to reign among all parties many came and shook hands with their master and mistress, nor did the young ladies refuse this salutation any more than the gentlemen. The merriment became rather boisterous as the punch operated, and the slaves sang satirical philippines against their masters, communicating a little free advice now and then; but they never lost of decorum, and at last retired apparently quite satisfied with their saturnalia, to dance the rest of the night at their own habitations.
I must not omit one circumstance that diverted us all exceedingly during the festivity, and seemed to justify the title of Saturnalia, which I have given to it. An old grey-headed man who had formerly been appointed the watchman to guard the riegro grounds, and had occasionally abused the trust, and robbed grounds he was bound to protect: considering his age and venerable appearance, Mr. Graham had always endeavoured to pacify those who had been robbed, by compelling the thief to make restitution from his own grounds, rather than flogging him: however the old rogue, having been detected in the very act of some outrageous robbery, had thought it prudent to retire, and had absented himself from the estate for two years previous to this festival, in the midst of which he made his unexpected appearance, and came up to his master laughing with perfect nonchalance. He shook hands with him as the others had done, and said “he was sorry he had been a bad boy, but he never would do so any more.’ So he received a free pardon.
The next morning, a little after breakfast time, the slaves reappeared dressed in fresh costime, that of yesterday being, perhaps, a little deranged with their romping. A new ceremony was to be exhibited. First came eight or ten young girls marching before a man dressed up in a mask with a grey beard and long flowing hair, who carried the model of a house on his head. This house is called the Jonkanoo, and the bearer is generally chosen for his superior activity in dancing. He first saluted his master and mistress, and then capered about with an astonishing agility and violence. The girls alsodanced without changing their position, moving their elbows and knees and keeping time with the calabashes filled with small stones. One of the damsels betraying, as it seemed, a little too much freshness m her gestures, was reproved by her companions for her imperance; they called her Miss Brazen, and told her she ought to be ashamed. All this time an incessant hammering was kept up on the gombay, and the cotta (a Windsor chair taken from the piazza to serve as a secondary drum) and the Jonkanoo's attendant went about collecting money from the dancers and from the white people. Two or three strange Negroes were invited to join, as a compliment of respect; they also contributed to the Jonkanoo man, who I am told, collects sometimes from ten to fifteen pounds on the occasion. All this ceremony is certainly a commemoration of the deluge. The custom is African and religious, although the purpose is forgotten. Some writer, whose name I forget, says that the house is an emblem of Noah's Ark, and that Jonkanoo means the sacred boat or the sacred dove - cake meaning sacred and Jona a dove, in Hebrew, or Samaritan, but as I have no pretension to etymology, I leave this subject to the literati. The Negroes have a custom of performing lubations [sic] when they drink. When the old runaway thief of a watchman reconciled himself to his master, he received a glass of grog in token of forgiveness on the one side, and repentance on the other; first, that he should not be flogged, and secondly, that he should not run away any more. On receiving the glass of grog, he poured a few drops on the ground, and drank off the rest to the health of his master and mistress.
On all these occasions of festivity the mulattos kept aloof, as if they disdained to mingle with the negroes ; and some of the pious, the regenerated slaves, also objected to participate in the heathen practices of their ancestors. Yet they seemed to cast many a wistful look at the dancers, more especially after they had taken their allowance of grog, which it was no part of their faith to renounce. My friend Quashie had got into disgrace, and came to me to intercede for him. He had lamed the horse Romulas or Romblass, in a nocturnal ride to another estate, where he had a second wife. His mode of getting the horse out of the stable was not a little ingenious: the door is always locked at night and the key brought into the house; but the climate requiring security only from rain, two sides of the stables are not even boarded, being defended only by strong bars of wood or rails, one of these was taken out by Quashie, who then tied the horse’s legs together, and throwing him down, dragged him under the other bars, unfettered him, made him get up, and rode off to his Dulcinea. He had returned before daylight, and had been detected performing the same ceremony to drag the horse into the stable again, and by some awkwardness he had lamed him. I could not have ventured to intercede for him, for there is something so aggravating in a servant’s abuse of his master's dumb animals ; however, Mr Graham only put him in the stocks on Christmas day, and dismissed him from the house to work in future in the fields; but Quashie felt it as a heavy punishment, for he begged to be flogged again and again, if the mister would let him still be groom ; but he begged in vain. While the negroes were enjoying their festivities we were not idle or indifferent on our part; our little dances were kept up every night with a great deal mirth and good fellowship. Music and dancing, billiards, cards and chess, all in turns presented their allurements. I was a little quizzed for remarking that the planters would be called to account by the reformers in England for letting the negroes dance on Christmas day, and was called a saint, - Saint Newcome. Mr. Graham told me there would be a rebellion in this Island if any attempt was made to curtail the enjoyments of the blacks, even on religious principles; but this must be prejudice, though it might have, such an effect on the French, perhaps.
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1859
New York Times, 1860 February 25
Emancipation in Jamaica: part V: by W. G. S.
(refers to Christmas 1859, probably in Savanna-la-Mar)
It was Christmas eve - a season at which the West Indian creole goes wild with excitement. Old drums, trumpets, kettles, bells, and anything that can make a noise, are brought out; dancers dance violently, and fiddlers fiddle violently, without any regard to time or tune and masquerading and psalm-singing are alternately kept up until New Year’s day is fairly past. No negro will work for love or money during this carnival time - he is literally demented, and can hardly give a sane answer to the most ordinary question. All night long, and for eight successive nights, an infernal din - a concert of cracked drums, shrill voices, and fire-crackers - is maintained. Those poor devils who cannot enjoy this species of amusement suffer the most exquisite torture. I passed the whole season in the country, and saw exhibitions of excitement that made me think the actors fit subjects for a lunatic asylum; but, although I moved freely among the people, I was always most civilly treated, and never on any of these occasions did I see a negro in a state of intoxication. I do not remember having ever seen a West Indian negro drunk; and the temperate habits of the Jamaica creole are the more remarkable, as the spirit manufactured in the island can be obtained for a very trifling cost.
I allude to these Christmas festivities because they afforded me an opportunity to see the people in their holiday time, when, if ever, they would be disposed to be as saucy and insolent as I have heard them characterized. I found them nothing of the kind. The accusation may be true as far as regards Kingston loafers, who hang about the wharves for chance jobs, and follow visitors with annoying persistency; but it is not true when applied to the peasantry. The people are no longer servile, though they retain from habit, the servile epithet of “Massa” when addressing the whites; but I have ever seen them most respectful to their superiors and most anxious to oblige. Individual testimony on this point might be discredited or deemed insufficient, but there is no discrediting the fact that, since their freedom, no people in the world have been more peaceful than the creoles of Jamaica. With their freedom they seem to have forgotten all ancient grievances, and never to have entertained a thought of retribution. The contrast in this respect between the reign of Freedom and the reign of Slavery carries its own lesson and its own warning. Twenty-five years of freedom and not a murmur of popular discontent! Twenty-five years of Slavery - I take any period - and what fears and anxieties and actual outbreaks. It cost the Government $800,000 to suppress the single insurrection of 1832, during which six million of dollars worth of private property were destroyed. But the outbreak from which the planters then suffered would have been light compared to the one that was ready to burst over the island when Liberty appeared in the gap and proved its salvation.
I have also heard the Jamaica people denounced for making Christmas their great gala season of festivity, instead of the anniversary of their emancipation. It is argued that they can care little in the boon of freedom if they do not keep it in remembrance, or regard it as a fit opportunity for national rejoicings. But I do not think that the absence of any general enthusiasm in the West India Islands on the 1st of August demonstrates at all that the people fail to appreciate the blessings of freedom. Any one acquainted with these colonies knows that the reverse is the case. Negroes, very like other people, are creatures of habit, and in their Christmas festivities they keep up the customs that they were taught to observe. They have a week’s holiday, and they make the most of it according to their noisy fashion. Probably they don’t reflect on the great event that the season is designed to commemorate, any more than civilized people do who drink champagne and eat roast turkey.
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notes: - If you are bothered by words and terms used in this piece, please recollect that it was written in the mid-19th century. I try to alter written material as little as possible, so that the reader is brought as close as possible to the time in which it was written.
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