11/20/2013
Jamaican Folklore
In Jamaica, folk tales are really taken seriously by
some people. Some of these stories are originally from Africa and some of them
are taken more seriously than others. While ones are only for entertaining
people as the Anasi Stories, some involving supernatural creatures such
as Duppies and Rolling Calves are truly believed in or just speculated about by
many.
Here are
some Jamaican tales, but if you believe or not, it is up to you:
· Ol' Heige: She is a witch who sucks people’s breath when she sheds her
skin and turns into the form of an owl. She is specially dangerous to babies.
If you find an Ol' Heige's skin you just need to put salt and pepper on it and
she will be incapable to put her skin back on because it will burn her. Without
it she can be killed. You can protect the babies by placing an open Bible in
their cradle or using some charms.
Annie Mae Patterson and her parents (an English woman and an Irish man) moved to Haiti when she was 10 years old. While in Haiti, she got interested in voodoo and learned about it from her nanny who was Haitian. When her parents died she was raised by her nanny until she turned 18, and then her nanny died too. As she was growing, she was becoming an expert at Voodoo.She moved to Jamaica in order to find a rich husband to make her fortune and as she was very pretty, she found one fast.
She met and married John Palmer. He was the owner of the Rose Hall estate, but just a few months after their wedding she was growing tired of her husband. Because of that, she had a lot of affairs with slaves that worked for John. One day he caught Annie with a slave in bed, he beat her but she didn't let that be. She killed John and inherited his possessions. Annie was very cruel with the slaves who worked at the estate. She would kill or torture any slave who didn't please her and sometimes she would only do that to show to the other slaves what she was capable to do. She married twice after her first wedding and like her other husband, they died, presumed murdered by Annie who was after their wealth. The husbands were buried by some slaves and before they came back to the estate she already had killed them. The name White Witch of Rose Hall was given to her because of her cruel behavior and her Voodoo rituals.
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Jamaican
people also have some unusual customs and beliefs that may be interesting to
other people, here are some of them:
·
It is bad
luck to marry on yout birthday;
·
To dream
of losing a tooth means someone is going to die;
·
The best
day of the week for beginning a journey is Monday as one should never travel on
Sunday. However, the best day to go looking a job is Tuesday. If a person fails
to get a job on Tuesday, he should not try again until the following Tuesday;
·
Just before
the last breath leaves the body, water must be put in the mouth of the dying
person to help them on their journey.
Jamaican Dance & Music
The history of Jamaican music is absolutely
intertwined with the history of the Jamaican people. The large number of African
slaves and their descendants helped to maintain a high level of cultural
elements from Africa including musical styles. These elements are the basis of
Jamaican music as we know it, even the language is reflected in it, sometimes
sung in patois. English and other European influences appear in Jamaican music
and dance too.
Dance:
· Quadrille: During the colonial era black slaves musicians played the popular
music of Europe for their owners and performed the Quadrille and other dances
and song styles to amuse them. Quadrille features the mento music which is
played with acoustics instruments such as banjo, guitar and rumba box. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agIqGccZaQY
Music:
· Reggae: It is considered the genre that represents the Jamaican music. It was
influenced by the Rastafarianism, both musically and lyrically. Important
artists of Reggae like Bob Marley and Eek-a-Mouse were born in Jamaica. Link:
· Ska: It combines elements of mento music and American R&B featuring
danceable rhythm and harmony singing. It is one of the basis of the Skinhead Movement. Link:
Jamaican Cuisine
A mixture of cooking techniques, flavors, spices and
influences from the indigenous people on the island, and many people from other
countries who lived in Jamaica make Jamaican cuisine diverse. It includes many
dishes from different cultures.Added together with some ingredients from
Jamaica, many foods have been introduced and are now grown locally. A wide
variety of seafood, tropical fruit and meats can be found.
Some Jamaican dishes are variations of cuisine and
cooking styles brought to the island from other places. These are often
modified to incorporate the local produce.
Some popular ingredients that are part of the Jamaican
cuisine are: different kinds of pepper, rum, tropical fruit like coconut and
banana, ginger, rice, beans etc.
Jamaican Celebrities
Jamaica is a “barn” of celebrities. Most of these
famous people are artists, but we can find Jamaican celebrities in politics and
sports too.
Certainly,
the most Jamaican famous artist is Bob Marley. He was a reggae singer who sang
about love, peace and happiness in his songs. One of the most popular Bob
Marley’s songs is Three Little Birds.
Who never sang or heard someone singing: “'Cause
every little thing is gonna be alright tututututuuuuu”? We can also find:
Sean Paul (musician), Grace Jones (singer and model), Damian Marley (singer),
Jimmy Cliff (singer, musician and actor), Stephen Hopkins (director),
Eek-a-Mouse (singer), Heavy D (singer), etc.
In politics, we
can find: Norman Manley (Jamaican national hero),
Portia Simpson-Miller (Prime Minister), Patrick Allen (General Governor) and
there are many Jamaican politics in the USA government too, but the majority
just have Jamaican parents, like Ivette Clarke.
About sports, we can cite Usain
Bolt, the Lightning (World
and Olympic record holder 100m and 200m). After Bolt exceed the record (London,
2012), running speed gained fame in Jamaica that promises form new sprinters
for the future. Other sport stars: Patrick Ewing (former NBA star), Mike McCallum (champion boxer), Melanie Walker (sprinter, 400m Olympic record
holder in Beijing, 2008), etc.
Many celebrities are born of
Jamaican parents, like Naomi Campbell (model), Corbin Bleu (actor, singer),
Sean Kingston (singer), Will.I.Am (singer), etc.
8/30/2013
Jamaica: A First Look into the “Land of Springs”
Jamaica is an island country located in the Greater Antilles that is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is Kingston. At Jamaica's North we can find Cuba and at its East, Haiti and Dominican Republic. The island is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the fifth-largest island country in the Caribbean Sea.
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The Flag of Jamaica was originally adopted on August 6, 1962, the Independence Day of Jamaica. The meaning of the colors has changed a lot as the time passed by. The present meaning is green for the lush vegetation; gold for the golden sunshine and black for the strength and creativity of the people which has made them get over all difficult.
The official language in Jamaica is a kind of English
that has elements of African languages and Native American words with a
reformed grammar. This mix grants a different accent to this English that is
named Jamaican Patois.
The majority of Jamaican population is black (91.2%),
but it has mix-raced people (6.2%) and other ethnics (2.4%) constituting
2,889,187 people. The diversity of religions is considerable large (but they
are most Christian) with Protestant (62.5 %), Catholic (2.6%), others didn’t
have specify their religion (14.2%) and other just don’t have any religion
(20.7%).
The dollar has been the currency of Jamaica since
1969.
8/29/2013
Sweet Jamaica
"There's a land
not so far away
Where the sun keep shinning all through the day
And this land that we all love
God gave us the wood and the water
Blessed by the moon and stars above
Everyday feels like a holiday
Sweet reggae music playing
From Negril to Morant Bay
Sweet, sweet Jamaica
Sweet Jamaica our land we love
Sweet Jamaica is the land of love
Sweet, sweet Jamaica Where the sun keep shinning all through the day
And this land that we all love
God gave us the wood and the water
Blessed by the moon and stars above
Everyday feels like a holiday
Sweet reggae music playing
From Negril to Morant Bay
Sweet, sweet Jamaica
Sweet Jamaica our land we love
Sweet Jamaica is the land of love
Beautiful Jamaica"
Bunny Rugs
Land We Love: Jamaica
5/22/2013
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