Jamaica The Land of Wood & Water~The Land of Love.....Paradise~
"I will tell you that Jamaicans are adaptable people to whatever comes their way. Most will tell you with a smile on their face: "MAN, no` worry 'bout nothin`." meaning that they don't stress themselves out with things that are natural in the cycle of life..... Noamie"
Who were the Awaraks Indians?
There is some historical conflicts in who exactly came to the island first. Were they also of the Incas Indians that once dominate the Florida area?
There are also many conflicting stories about the Maroons.
So I can only tell it as it was told to me; the story having pass down from one elder (chief) to another. I having spent a lot of my younger days with the elders, listening to stories; rather than playing "hopscotch" etc.
So in my earlier years growing up with my grandparents; he grandfather (Markie) taught me a lot.
He showed me various burial caves up in the hills. I took my high school there. We had disturbed their burial. I can never forget what happen after.
Yet, it was so beautiful over there in "Ingun Head." There are caves on both sides; while in the center was pristine flat land.
I had never celebrated Christopher Columbus Day. He was a damn crook for all I care. However, on one of my trip to Spain; I went to the court where he was allegedly had gone to petitioned the Queen of Spain for the money. As I stood at the distance from where he had stood. I could sense the came trickery that he used.
Standing from such as distance to talk to someone; hides the lies and deceit that would have been obvious up close.
The Complexity of Caribbean Cultures.
Many people only know Jamaica through the distorting eyes of Tourism, with advertisement that say come to Jamaica and feel all right, come swim in our beautiful turquoise water, come languish on our beautiful beaches; Come play in the sun. Yet many come, and many leave with an even more distorted view of our Island's Culture, and our respectable way of life.
In seeing Jamaica through the eyes of a Jamaican compared with Dr. Paracme's views (commentary) of seeing Jamaica through the eyes of a non-Jamaican, the dialogues here will hopefully help in forming a better understanding of what is, verses what is not.
Caribbean families are known to be "matrifocal". A role easily identified and played out when a Caribbean Woman are forced to embraced another culture, in the relationship of marriage. Are we then too proud, too strong a set of people, with strong values?
What is to be said about Britain's colonial legacy to the Caribbean, with a major emphasis on Jamaica, our island, and in a positive way?
Why I, Noamie, a strong Black woman do not know my place in Today's Society?
Why are there 'issues' between the African American Women and Caribbean Women? Why is there a varying degree of hate between African -American Women and the Jamaican women?
Note that I use the word 'African' to differentiate between the two culture of people only. Seeing, I do not embrace the stereotype word~African-American.
"I see women on bended knees cutting cane for her family, I saw men at the waterside, casting nets at the surging tide... "
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A Little Piece of History
By Noamie
My mother's father was part Indian; Arawak/Siboneys/Maroons and part French. His mother was a White French woman, petite, and with hip to elegance. However, since she was a sickly woman; my grandfather's Aunt raised him. My great grandfather had two wives.
My grandfather's mother came from Cuba to Jamaica; long before the Revolution. From the Hills of now what is Call Iron-Shore in the Montego-Bay area; to Hanover; and up to the hills of Orange Hill; some came. They are the people who had own West Cliffe Property. Presently their descendants came back to buy and now own West Cliffe. When you hear the surname "Blac, brown and Barett, think of them as my relatives. We are all one people.
In the Montego-Bay area, perhaps you had have read over the last year in the news; wherein Mr. Barnett of Montego- Bay had demanded his land; is also of that tribe of people.
If ever you had visited Breezes Runaway Bay, you may have met a man there; Cargill Brown who is of the descendant of those same people; very mild mannered and quiet.
They are not Africans descendants of British and Portuguese slavery as perceived by the mass. That is why I have often said; instead they represent the kind, loving mild-mannered people that once called Jamaica, their island home. The Original People of Jamaica.
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Seeing Jamaica through the eyes of a non-Jamaican
Dr. Paracme's Eyes
Jamaica my Jamaica
By Paracme on Saturday, 13 January 2001 in response to paracme, what is it about jamaica or jamaicans that you like, admire, respect, etc..,
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An island of supernatural beauty, an emerald set in an azure sea, enchanting, bewitching, the purest love of my youth, healer, lover, oh my Jamaica! How I miss you.
Wandering the cockpits, walking for days along the south coast, lost in the mangroves, speaking to the trees, to the lizards, to the birds. Hearing the secret voice of the yellow snake, tasting the moist deep soil, the sweetness of each leaf and berry, feeling the electric morning , the intoxication of evening, and floating in the warm mother sea. Always,always, the sea.
I love the Island. All of us are trespassers, taking and giving nothing. Jamaica Jamaica Jamaica Jamaica Jamaica. I have traveled to many, many places, but none has moved me as much, or called to me so strongly. I'm glad I have knew her ........."
By Noamie
My mother's father was part Indian; Arawak/Siboneys/Maroons and part French. His mother was a White French woman, petite, and with hip to elegance. However, since she was a sickly woman; my grandfather's Aunt raised him. My great grandfather had two wives.
My grandfather's mother came from Cuba to Jamaica; long before the Revolution. From the Hills of now what is Call Iron-Shore in the Montego-Bay area; to Hanover; and up to the hills of Orange Hill; some came. They are the people who had own West Cliffe Property. Presently their descendants came back to buy and now own West Cliffe. When you hear the surname "Blac, brown and Barett, think of them as my relatives. We are all one people.
In the Montego-Bay area, perhaps you had have read over the last year in the news; wherein Mr. Barnett of Montego- Bay had demanded his land; is also of that tribe of people.
If ever you had visited Breezes Runaway Bay, you may have met a man there; Cargill Brown who is of the descendant of those same people; very mild mannered and quiet.
They are not Africans descendants of British and Portuguese slavery as perceived by the mass. That is why I have often told people; Instead they represent the kind, loving mild-mannered people that once called Jamaica, their island home. The Original people of Jamaica.
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By Noamie
Visiting the Grounds of the Awaraks Indians:
We use to go into the mountains, the hills, around the orange Hill area, and we never bring any water with us. Instead, we would drink from the water holes, with happiness in our heart:This land is my land, this land is your land, from the Kingston Harbor, to the Negril waters..
Hot spring flowed up from out of the ground and from the rocks. The water has always been the sweetest and most refreshing.
I always see beauty in 'things'(places, God's natural creation) that people take for granted.
A lot of people don't understand me, mainly due to the fact that most to all of the material things that they crave and kill for, don't mean a darn thing to me.
I use to go to many places with my Grandfather who were maroon and Awaraks/Ciboneyians and Maroon mixed, and he would point out many things. We had walked through Indians Burial ground. Grandfather would send me to go and sit in the caves when it would rain and we are still up there. The peace I felt even as a child, stayed with me even to this very day.
Only the heart can capture these feeling. Only the spirit.
By Justin~ An American, a Non-Jamaica, looking- In, and Seeing...
The first and only time I visit Roaring River......
Invited to a trip out into Jamaica with a handsome
couple, that has been our friends for a few years,
and saw, probably for the first time, a real mural created
possibly 1000's of years ago, by a timeless people
that will and can only live in da heart......because
Man has destroyed yet another species.Image in the mind
there once was a society that survived many years
until the touch of man killed all that were pure.
The guide that took us to the Mountain which forth
sprang a spring of cool, fresh water, He say Blessed
the Man that bring you to waters of healing, for He is
a friend to da heart, he say many things dat sounded
good for my soul. When the vibe arises, accept it without
question.
Had a chance to sit in water that came straight
from the mountain, felt like really good water.
He say,"drink my breddan, drink the water of life,
drink da water that flows to clean thy body and the
land. Respect the water...."
Lightin', our guide, went on to see if we could
pick out any things in the rocks that sparked the mind .
We all were looking around trying to figure out what Lightin'
was trying to show us when I suddenly saw the outline
of a lion.
This silhouette was as plain as day,
that very well have been work of the Arawaks.
May be incorrect in the assumption, but it stands
to reason that it is possible to find a maybe cleverly
hidden treat that was under our nose the whole
time, a secret that only few shall see.
Noamie, if what I saw was a mural from the Arawaks,
then that tells me the path is there to be followed,
the contacts on the way help you in the journey,
Respect your Breddan, let not man destroy yet another
species of life.
Some much to say, so few words to explain,,,,,,
Truly Respect to those that teach and guide.
"I had a chance to sit in water that came straight
from the mountain, felt like really good water.
He say,"drink my breddan, drink the water of life,
drink da water that flows to clean thy body and the
land. Respect the water...."
From Justin on visiting Roaring River located on the Mountain side of the Great George's Plain in Westmoreland..
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By Paracme
What can be said about the Lifestyle of the Arawak Indians
The fate of the Arawaks was tragic. They were described by Columbus, who came to Jamaica in 1494, as a very handsome people. "They are very well made, with very handsome bodies and very good features. Their hair is short and coarse, like the hair of a horse,... which they wear straight down to their eyebrows. They are all of fair stature and size, neither black nor white....They know nothing of weapons."
There were possibly as many as 100,000 Arawaks on Jamaica when the Spanish arrived. A census taken 100 years later counted 74 remaining, with a few descendants of Spanish men and Arawak mothers. There were no Arawaks left in 1655, according to the English, who seized control of Jamaica in that year. They are said to have died by the thousands from introduced diseases brought from Europe and Africa, to which they had no resistance. As their situation became more dismal, being hounded, beaten, raped, and enslaved by the Spanish, infanticide and multiple suicide is said to have taken place, in the late 1500s. They used the cassava root, which is poisonous unless prepared properly and soaked in water. The Arawak women gave the deadly water to their infants. Bammy bread, made from the cassava, is one of the remnants of Arawak culture.
It is said that the last of the Arawaks held out by hiding in caves, along the south coast. One English writer, in the 18th Century, said that a few dozen of these people, from the Santa Cruz mountains in St. Elizabeth, had mixed with Africans belonging to one of the great plantations, and that their features could still be discerned on the faces of some people, in what is now the Ballard Valley, near Lover's Leap. The story of Lover's Leap, in its original form, was about the suicide of some Arawaks there.
What can be said about the Arawak? A beautiful, gentle island people, destroyed, crushed, annihilated, like so many before and since.
They loved parrots, according to the first Europeans to visit Jamaica. Parrots were everywhere in their little villages. Who really remembers the Arawaks now? They gave the Island its name. When I hear the term "a Jamaican", I think of them. And of their parrots, who will probably follow them before too many more years pass, becoming only a memory, a picture in a book.
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Paracme Wrote:
I was reading some posts on another board, on the topic of books about Jamaica. It was interesting in several ways. I noticed that there were very few books or authors mentioned, For example, I didn't see Claude McKay's name. Anthony Winkler was mentioned, but only in connection with "The Lunatic", which is a fun read, but does not compare in literary merit to his "Painted Canoe" I suspect people know about "The Lunatic" only because it was made into a movie. This makes me sad.
I once suggested "Painted Canoe" for inclusion in a modern literature course focused on diversity and third world authors. The administrative reaction to the book turned out to be negative because it portrayed some Jamaicans in a less than idealized manner. This is unfortunate, but typical of higher education (and some message boards).
Claude McKay is world class. He emigrated from Jamaica to the US as a young man, almost a century ago. He became one of the writers prominent in the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the first to write poetry in patois. Towards the end of his life, in the 1940s, he began to reflect upon his Jamaican boyhood, and wrote a couple of novels and a collection of semi-autobiographical short stories."Banana Bottom" is a very enjoyable novel, and "My Green Hills of Jamaica" is simply beautiful. Both give a very real and almost painfully nostalgic picture of late 19th Century Jamaica. No politics, no complaining, and wonderfully honest. "The Great Yacht Race" is another very good book by Winkler. An American writer named Bob Shacochis did a short story collection centered in the Caribbean called Easy in the Islands". They are some of the best things in that category that I have ever read. In one of the tales, the old Negril Yacht Club is mentioned. The collection was published in 1985. Shacochis recently published a very well received political analysis of contemporary Haiti.
Negrilian Rhapsody
Posted By: Eric von Zipper
Date: Monday, 9 October 2000, at 11:17 a.m.
Three hours by air, three centuries by tradition
Cane sugar and ganja have grown to fruition
Pistols crack and a shotgun roars
Rapacious justice knocks on doors.
Carved wooden masks blankly peering towards Zion
The Rastafarian gaze of a conquering lion
Mismatched surnames color polyglot races
Mystified children stare at white faces
When the sun sets green past the West End cliffs
The night air drones in Reggae riffs
Two rhythmatic chords and an electric bass
Beat time with the drums in a primordial pace
Roosters and billy goats and stray dog emotion
Share coffee and silence in morning devotion
They marvel at seascapes and fathom the worth
Of this pedestrian journey by pilgrims on earth
Come back Shane, the Logos is flesh
The hummingbirds dance and the flowers smell fresh
They rest on the bedspread and smile incognito
At dialectic and dogma and all heady credo
Distant Aurora do you beckon or guard?
Your secrets are safe with the beasts and the bard
Aging delinquents, minstrels and strumpets
Know the clarion call of the Negrilian trumpets
Copyright@1996 by Von Zipper Enterprises, Philadelphia
Visit us:www.thenewnegril.com - message board
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Books and therapeutic history
Posted By: Paracme
Date: Thursday, 5 October 2000, at 11:13 a.m.
I think all of the books I mentioned are available here, even if out of print. Most good book stores, including the Barnes and Noble superstores, can do a computer search that will locate old titles stored in warehouses. Amazon is also a good source for some titles. "Easy in the Islands" is well worth searching for. After I posted last night I thought about McKay, and why I loved his work so much. I've reread "Green Hills" many, many times. I think it's because we share the experience of growing older, and longing for the golden island of our vanished youth, both as a physical reality and as a metaphor.
I read the Bill Evans essays early this morning, and thought they were interesting. Like EVZ, I have trouble with writers who mask unpleasant reality in order to display sensitivity or solidarity with various groups. I did not like the use of the word "servant". The Siboney was a SLAVE. And the term "just masters"?!!? Also, a petty historical quibble: The British did not rule Jamaica for the next 400 years. They arrived in 1655, and left in 1962. Thats barely 300 years. I also wonder about his Maroon friend dispelling the "myths" about the Maroons. How does he know what is true and what is a myth? I suspect some rewriting of history to suit current political and social agendas. History as therapy.
The Indians kept slaves, the Chinese kept slaves, the Hindus kept slaves, Brown Jamaicans kept slaves,the Africans kept slaves, Polynesian kept (and ate) slaves. Slavery was an almost universal human phenomenon. I thought Noami's post was interesting. I know that family stories about remote Indian ancestors are often true. I thought her comment about none of her ancestors being slaves in white America was facinating. Jamaica and Cuba were the heart and the center of African slavery. North America was only a minor appendage of that Caribbean based system, run first by the Spanish and Portugese, and later picked up by the British. Most of the slaves brought over from Africa stayed in the Caribbean basin, or in Brazil.
After notes: After any careful research, i went back to re-examine some of my writing. I may or may not be wrong about "none of my ancestors been slave in white America. I have since researched and learn that some of the SouthEastern Connecticut Piquot Indians that were sold into slavery after the 1636/7 war arrived in Jamaica via British ship. That their experience in "tobacco planting" may have save them from been held as slaves. Instead, they may have become mistresses to two brothers: Leonard and William Parkinson who at the time owned plantations up in Trewlany. Part of St. James now a part of the parish of Trewlany as well. [Look for more information to follow this page].
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