At this special time of year, as we go about our daily routines, excitement lingers in the air around us. Our neighbours’ homes are abuzz with activity as the scents, sounds and scenes of painting, cleaning out, putting up new curtains, fixing the roof and sunning cushions, surround us. It isn’t unusual to become nostalgic at this time, even reflecting on the Christmas traditions that we celebrate; the traditions that make Trini Christmas “de best”!
A Traditional Trini Christmas spread - baked ham with chow chow, pastelles, black cake, sorrel, apples and grapes.
Our history books claims that Christmas was first celebrated in T&T in 1967. Six Catholic priests of the Order of the Constantine introduced it, going from village to village engaging villagers in festivities that included sharing large meals. As Catholicism grew, so did the observance of this festival. Over history, several cultures have contributed to the growth and variety of our local Christmas traditions now observed. The Spanish and Latin Americans brought parang and pastelles, the French gave us the crèche, the English left us Christmas cards, tinned biscuits, and the modern day Santa Claus.
The making of the Christmas Crèche or Nativity Scene was a favourite custom long ago, when families would get together and craft one for display in their homes.
Of course, there are other vibrant traditions such as preparing the home through vigorous cleaning and renovation, attending Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, and the making of holiday staples like black cake, baked ham, sorrel juice, ginger beer and ponche de crème. However, some of our age old customs are slowly disappearing, if they are not already extinct. Some blame it on a lack of appreciation for the “true spirit” of the festival, with the younger generations embracing the purely commercial aspect of the season.
Two favourite Trini Christmas treats - black cake and ponche de crème.
“Everything is so modern now. People can’t be bothered to make their own Christmas foods or decorations. They just buy everything,” comments 72 year old Port-of-Spain resident Esta Joseph, who fondly recalls Christmas boiling salted hams on the makeshift stove in her front yard. A Crix tin was used, and the ham was boiled, softened and sweetened up on a then mud oven or a makeshift barrel oven. “Back then we didn’t get ready-to-cook hams like what we have in the grocery now,” she remembers.
A Christmas must have, pastelles were brought to T&T by the Cocoa Panyol people of Venezuela.
Black cake was baked in a similar fashion, which was functional at the time since most Trinbagonians didn’t own a large stove with an oven. It was the common practice up until the 1960’s and still is in some rural areas. While today baking your Christmas goodies in the yard is unnecessary, the elders insisted the practice was not simply a means to an end, but it was a way bringing together members of the family and community. “Christmas was a time for the family. Christmas was for the children; they were the most excited ones in the preparations,” recalls Miss June, a respected school official. She laments the loss of local holiday traditions and attributes their demise to the neglect of family activities during the season. If you ask the average teenager about some of our local holiday customs, you may understand why.
The iconic Christmas tree.
Many young people today think nothing of eating apples and grapes year around, but before the late 1980’s these fruits were only enjoyed at Christmas time, when they were temporarily removed from the Customs negative list of imported goods for the holiday season. Neither do most youth know about sancoche. Before it became the name of a local cooking show, this hearty soup, made with beef and root vegetables, was a meal to keep you up on Christmas Eve during last minute household preparations that usually lasted until Christmas morning. Most young people never made a crèche or nativity scene, which was a favourite family customs of long ago. Nor do they know the fun of going house to house paranging.
The poinsettia or Flower of the Holy Night has become entrenched as a popular Christmas decoration and symbol, as it is in full bloom during the holiday season.
This brings us to the story of parang and the commercial evolution of the paranderos. While parang is still popular, with local paranderos performing at seasonal parties and functions, the traditional house-to-house paranging, which was responsible for the rise of the art form, is becoming obsolete. Parang, like many others Christmas traditions, is quickly becoming a commercial enterprise.
Some traditional parang instruments.
“There is almost no need for real players in a parang band anymore. The music is electronically stored and played in the background, and the use of box bass and guitars, and bottle spoon is not needed,” explains Kimberley Salvary of the Santa Cruz-based paranderos Sanracas. Only a few places like Paramin and Lopinot observe traditional, early Christmas morning parang. This, Salvary says, is because parang is now primarily a moneymaking business, with recent moves to incorporate different genres of music such as chutney, reggae, salsa and soca, into the art form.
A typical parandero with traditional parang instruments.
This deviation from tradition facilitates more commercial performances. Is the modernisation of parang and other Christmas traditions simply a natural progression or is it being done is the face of competition? Some believe that our annual Carnival celebrations take precedence over our observance of Christ’s birth. As such, Christmas has become a stopover festival on the way to Carnival. Traditional practices and customs have had to become commercial in order to remain relevant. Whatever the reason, it is fair to say that many people are missing out on Christmas practices that have, over generations, helped to strengthen our sense of community, culture, co-operation and overall enjoyment of this festive season.
This article has been republished with the permission of dougla Magazine (www.douglatt.com).
