Tobago's traditional Christmas spirit

By DR RITA PEMBERTON

Despite the fact that the 1930s and 40s were difficult years in Tobago, elaborate Christmas celebrations continued unabated. Christmas time was a joyous season of sharing and giving in Tobago, a highly anticipated event for which there were preparations over an extended period and which involved family and members of community.

In this process the interdependency of members of the community with butchers and shopkeepers was clearly demonstrated. There was an increase in the amount of money in circulation, which was caused by the payment of cocoa cess in December, which increased the purchasing power of farmers in cocoa-growing areas such as Charlotteville and Speyside.

In addition, since December was usually a wet month, the accompanying landslides provided increased employment opportunities to clear roads of the debris in Speyside. At that time of year, there was the opportunity to escape the strictures of poverty, if only temporarily.

This column looks at Christmas preparations in Charlotteville, Canaan/Bon Accord and Speyside.

Food was the priority in the celebrations and the first preparations were naturally food-related.

The animals to be slaughtered for the Christmas meal were identified and specially reared. Pork and yard fowl were essential Christmas fare, so the selected young pig and cock were fattened for the occasion. Two weeks before Christmas the cock and crabs were fed with watergrass and grated coconut to purge and purify them.

During the corn season, ears of corn were stored in the kitchen loft above the fireside where they were dried and preserved for grinding to make the various delicacies.

Next, each home had to ensure that the required equipment for food preparation was in good order. Dirt ovens were repaired where necessary, mortars and pestles were acquired for pounding seasoning and plantain.

Ten bundles of wood were collected for the cooking process in Speyside. In Canaan/Bon Accord, bundles of coconut shell, which were obtained from the Kilgwyn estate, and wood were stored in the kitchen or under the house. This was a responsibility for the children, to which they were not particularly endeared.

Three large stones had to be obtained for making the fireside where the ham had to be cooked, and an empty cooking oil or biscuit tin had to be acquired as the cooking receptacle.

Items which had to be brought from Trinidad had to be ordered through the local village shops to be obtained in time for the celebrations. Villagers of Speyside left their shopping list and box in one of the establishments. After the shop was closed, the family packed the boxes for collection on Christmas Eve. The shops were Harold Sandy Grocery and Rum shop; Watson Denoon Shop and Store, which also sold fabric, crepe paper and medicines; and Louis Sandy Grocery.

Items ordered from Trinidad were brought by the round-the-island shipping service which had a depot in Speyside. In Charlotteville there was also a direct delivery. The shops were run by: Maurice Nicholson, who operated a grocery and rum shop/wine shop; Stephen Carrington, the largest department store in the village; Marcus Dillon’s grocery; and Gurley Nicholson (aka AA), who operated a rum shop and grocery.

Items to be ordered included the famous tar-encased picnic ham, which came from Australia, and which had to be scrubbed and soaked for days before cooking. The tar was later used to stop leaks in utensils.

In Charlotteville items ordered included: chow chow (called sour jam by some locals), which was ordered by the plantation owners; salted Norwegian butter; raisins; currants; fabric for curtains and hair covers; crepe paper for making flowers and kites, paint and wallpaper.

As a symbol of the renewal with which Christmas was associated, everything was new or made to look new. Children got new clothes, especially sleeping clothes. New curtains and cushion covers were a must and walls were painted or covered with new wallpaper.

The cleaning of roads by the authorities and the resident plantation owners signalled the preparations were under way.

This was followed by owners cleaning their yards. Houses were virtually dismantled as cushion covers were removed, decorations taken down and chairs were put outside for cleaning. Chairs were sandpapered, in preparation for varnishing, and floors were scrubbed with lemon juice. Cobwebs were removed from both inside and outside the house. Those with grass mattresses emptied and washed the grass, so the children slept on the floor until Christmas night.

Special attention was given to the wagonette which provided the image of wealth in the midst of poverty, holding and displaying the prized family items which were not available for everyday family use. The wagonette was scrubbed and varnished and its contents were washed. The arrangement of the furniture provided a “no entry” sign to the house until Christmas morning.

The butter had to be washed to remove the salt two days before Christmas Eve. This task, which was given to the children, involved stirring ad nauseam and was considered a tedious exercise. Currants and raisins had to be "picked" to remove stems. And on the day of baking, children beat the eggs by hand.

Much of the work effort was concentrated on Christmas Eve – day and night – when bread and cakes were baked and all preparatory cooking and cleaning done, the last item often not completed before Christmas Day.

Christmas was the time of meat and of the butchers. On the day of killing, the villagers in Speyside congregated around the tree with the V-shaped trunk, the designated killing site, which served as the village abattoir. Buyers and pudding-makers collected their items on Christmas Eve. In Charlotteville the butchers slaughtered and sold beef to villagers.

Most people had their own ovens, but those who didn’t took their items to the neighbour or community bakeries with their cake and bread marked. It was not unusual for baked goods to become “misplaced” from communal ovens.

The ham was put to boil on the fireside for hours and until tested with a "flex" (the vein of the coconut leaves). Since the owners were preoccupied inside the house, there were instances when hams “disappeared” and owners found only a tin of boiling ham water on the fire.

Pork and plantain were prepared for the workers in Charlotteville on Christmas Eve night.

Then, in all villages, curtains were put up, new cushions were put on and the house was “put away.”

Roving carollers helped to infuse the spirit of Christmas. In Canaan/ Bon Acord the choir masters led the village choirs, which had been practising, around the community on Christmas Eve night. Their refrain, "Open your door, there is a stranger at your door, let him in," announced their presence. After their performance they were entertained with ginger beer, cake and bread and ham, and in some instances given an envelope with money.

In Charlotteville the community was entertained by an all-male choir of intoxicated men who were directed by the alcohol they consumed. The more inebriated they became, the more lustrous was their singing. Their voices included tenor and bass, but the descant singer Greg Benjamin was outstanding. The group’s singing was punctuated by arguments about grammar and syntax which lasted until one of them gave the final dictum.

The most significant feature common to all three communities was the outpouring of love and togetherness that was displayed during the Christmas season.

Those who were slaughtering animals told their neighbours, “Don’t buy pork, because I am going to slaughter a pig,” and similar advice came from those with garden produce. In that way everyone in the community, regardless of their financial status, was able to have an enjoyable Christmas.

The community enjoyed a brief reprieve from the poverty and the hard life on the island, they were infused with a sense of renewal by the extensive cleaning of their homes and surroundings, and they enjoyed enhanced rapport with their fellows. Christmas made communities in Tobago stronger.