Memories of 'ole-time' Christmas

Commercialised Christmas is a term that became familiar to me as an adult. Growing up in Chapelton, Clarendon, I had no such consciousness. My memories of Christmas bring back feelings of warmth, joy, excitement, sharing and the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas time in my childhood was centred on church, friends and Grand Market. Chapelton is a small town in central Jamaica. It came to life on market days on Friday and Saturday. Life in the town became even more exciting at Christmas, with Grand Market on Christmas Eve.

Christmas was when my siblings and I looked forward to getting pretty new clothes to go the big Christmas programme at church on Christmas night. We looked forward to acting in the Christmas play and to performing songs and poems which the whole community would come out to watch. We got excited at the Grand Market money that Daddy would give us to buy our toys. Those would be the only toys we would get for the year. We were allowed to stay out late to go to Grand Market. We would walk into the town centre about a half a mile away from our home and would get home about midnight and then stand out on the roadside to chat with our friends.

House preparation

Then there was the preparation of the house. We had to make sure it was spic and span and mama would change the curtains and put on the lovely bedspreads. My sisters and I would decorate the pine tree in front of our house. In those days, we had no extension cord and would plug out the polisher cord to be used as the extension to light up the Christmas tree.

Christmas morning was a special thrill. Daddy, who was the pastor of the church, would wake us up to go to early morning Christmas service at 5. We would have the service and then the whole congregation would gather with bottle torches, singing carols along the way, quite lustily and in good harmony, up the hill from Ivy Store following the roadway up to the hospital to sing for the patients. It was a ritual which we enjoyed and have never forgotten. It was a treat for the community every year. The carolling would begin the last week before Christmas and was done by the young people every morning at 5:00.

Our parents had no money to buy us presents and we never felt a lack. We had been given Grand Market money and although it was not much, we could buy our dollies and 'fee-fees', 'clappers' and other noisemakers. In addition, we were quite excited in looking forward to the one present that we knew we would get every year from Sister Lucy, who lived across the road from us and who was the church organist. Every morning after Christmas breakfast, we would see Sister Lucy coming over with a small present for each of us children. That was so exciting for us, getting those gifts wrapped in pretty paper. It was the only time that we got wrapped gifts. We have never forgotten that. We felt very blessed.

After Christmas morning breakfast with the family, we would be free to play with our dollies before we had to help mama prepare the Christmas dinner. Dinner was not as leisurely as breakfast, since daddy had to get ready to go to one or two of the 10 other churches that he pastored across Clarendon to do their Christmas programme and to get back to Chapelton for our 'programme' in the night. Along with sumptuous food at Christmas, we had a special treat which were the crates of 'soda' drinks that Daddy would buy at Christmas. We could drink soda to our hearts' content.

Then the highlight of Christmas day was participating in the 'programme' at church and dressing up in our pretty new clothes to go to the play. The church would be packed and people would be on the outside looking in. We would finally be putting on the play after weeks of 'practice'. The play was always based on the story of the birth of Jesus.

A different time

These days, Christmas is different. Carols are hardly sung. The ones that are sung have little about the birth of Jesus. Children hear more about Santa Claus than about Jesus. Parents focus more on buying fancy gifts for children than about taking them to church to hear again the story of the birth of Jesus.

Clarendon has become so crime-ridden that people are scared to be on the roads when it is dark for fear of criminals. Carol singing in communities is becoming a thing of the past. Grand Market in Chapelton is not what it used to be. Everyone now gravitates to May Pen. Yet, in spite of the crime that May Pen is becoming known for, people still go out to shop. The resilience of our people gives us hope - hope that we can reclaim the positive values of the past.

I am glad that I was a child in the days when Christmas was still Christ-centred, when it was possible to be free to roam the streets and sing carols early in the mornings. Let us return to the simplicity of a Christ-centered Christmas, finding meaning in our relationships with God and each other.

Esther Tyson is principal of Ardenne High School, St Andrew. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.