Holy Week: A recollection of Easter in Jamaica

Suffice it to say; I understood the response entirely because I also missed the start of Lent.  Two days after Ash Wednesday, I realized we were already in the season of Lent.   Growing up, I looked forward to our only holiday break between New Year's Day and Good Friday.  Not so in America today, we have Martin Luther King Day and President’s Day immediately after the Christmas holidays, so Ash Wednesday isn't even thought of anymore.  Moreover, most of America is not Commonwealth territories, so nothing is here to remind us of Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. 

Holy Week is upon us, and I also forgot other critical traditions we grew up with.   On Palm Sunday, for example, as a boy, we would walk into church with our coconut tree leaf.  I didn't know why, but I did what Mama said I should do.  In my crisp white shirt, with the coconut leaf on my chest, I walked into church and took my seat.   Pastor would preach until the coconut leaf "shribble-up" (dried up).   Only recently did I find that the coconut leaf (replacement for palm leaf) represented Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem just before he was convicted and crucified; that is indeed a significant moment.   

Though I ate a lot of fish during Lent, especially around Good Friday, I needed to learn the significance of eating fish only during that time.   Now I know, but Mama didn't tell me.  I only knew we ate a lot of goggle-eye fried fish during that season.  It was almost standard; every Sunday morning, Mama would go to Fisherman's Beach to get goggle-eyes cleaned and fry them so we could eat after church.  I don't know where she got sprat, but that was also a significant dish on Good Friday.   I am now aware of the reason for fish.  You see, Jesus is warm-blooded.  During Lent, as part of showing reverence, as we fast, we should eat only cold-blooded, not warm-blooded animals to represent the life of Jesus as a warm-blooded animal.    First, I am sure I missed that biology lesson in school that explained fish are cold-blooded creatures.   What can I say?  I was a business major.  I will continue to eat fish, however. 

Unless I am reminded, Good Friday could also pass me up.   It is not a holiday in America, and I have not lived anywhere where people are given the day off.  Good Friday is the remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ by Crucifixion.  Christ is the central figure of Christianity.    As a child, I could not count three days from His (Jesus') death to Easter Sunday; unless it's three days up to Easter Monday.  I still can't count those three days.  We are one day short.  Yet, just like everyone else, I accepted the celebration.  

However, I would miss the morning of Good Friday while I live in America because no one walks by my home to a church that day.  I neither wake up feeling like Good Friday is another Sunday or the week has two Sundays.     I recall many stories of people sticking some trees with a knife and seeing blood dripping down the side of the tree instead of water.  That would create panic and a high level of sadness about the Crucifixion.  I guess that’s what is intended with the telling of these stories. 

Growing up, we did the same Good Friday activities as Easter Sunday.  So, I was seriously confused around that time, as were most of the children in my neighbourhood.   On Good Friday, no playing around the community was allowed; all shops (stores) closed; we went to church, ate bun and cheese, hard dough bread, and fried fish (Sprat and goggle-eyes), and then prepared for Easter Sunday to do it again.

Two days later, here comes Easter Sunday.  I recall how packed church was on Easter Sunday.  It's as if God gave out more blessings that day, so the entire community came out to receive the gifts of prayers and reset.   It is understandable, however; Easter Sunday is the last day of Lent.  Like everything else, people wanted to witness anything Jesus could offer or give them as a sign, like blood spurting from the feet of His statue in the church.   Or other signs like tears rolling down the face of that same inanimate figure.  We are unique people. 

Jamaicans always find a way to throw a party in everything we do.  Though Easter officially finishes on Sunday, the day after Lent is always a holiday, Easter Monday.  To me, that's when all the partying started on our beaches.  In those days, most people across Jamaica had access to most beaches.  Our community had three beaches, so busloads of people would arrive from the country areas and converge on our shores.   There was cooking, picnicking, and music as people swam "outa sea" with their goggles and blown-up trucks, car, and truck tubes.   These kinds of activities we do not have in America.  It's almost as if a significant part of our culture is lost, living in America.  Easter Monday mirrors Independence Day, August 6th.  Can you imagine not having the shop open for three days as a child?  Good Friday?  Easter Sunday?  Easter Monday?  No purchasing paradise plum?  No bulla?  Dat wikked!   Do these things still happen at home in Jamaica?

Though I didn't understand most of the reasons for our rituals, as I grew up, they became a big part of who I am and who we were as a people.  Mama could get me to do anything without questioning them.  Are these your recollection too? 
Whatever you choose to do this week, be sure to include some of the traditions of our past.  Keep them alive.  Walk Good

Happy Easter everybody!

Leo Gilling is a Diaspora Strategist & Engagement Advocate and Chairman, Jamaica Diaspora Taskforce Action Network (JDTAN).  Send feedback to leogilling@msn.com.