Holy Week: A recollection of Easter Time in Jamaica.

Living in America causes significant shifts in awareness of culture and heritage. Being a Jamaican, living in Jamaica differs from living in a farrin (Foreign-America). American living (unless you reside in the New York tri-state area means forgetting some traditions. I asked a friend of mine last where I can find an easter bun to buy now. The response was: “fi wah?” What do you mean “fi wah” I replied. It’s Easter. My friend was obviously clueless that it was easter time.

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 Presidents Day immediately after the Christmas holidays, so Ash Wednesday isn’t even thought of anymore. Moreover, most of America is not Commonwealth territory, 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)…