Posted by Fay Knowles on December 23, 2000 at 11:47:42:
Article: Christmas time in the Bahamas
Happy holiday music peals from elegant shop fronts and
along white beaches where an occassional barbecue sends
out mouth-watering aromas of crisply-grilled chicken or
steaks.
It's Christmas time in Nassau. There's an urgent air of
excitement emanating from the shops along the old
colonial Bay Street and in the U.S.-styled plazas on the
edge of town.
Nassau International Airport is busy with tourists and
Bahamians alike. Some locals are off to spend the festive
season with relatives in the Out Islands and young people
are returning from schools abroad, eager to taste again
their mothers' succulent Bahamian dishes.
Bahamian families get together on Christmas Day as any
family in the Western world. From the luxury hotels with
their gourmet restaurants to the more humble island homes
there isa continuing ripple of celebration.
Dinner consists of the traditional turkey with stuffing
and gravy, along with honey-glazed ham, accompanied by
peas 'n' rice, sweet potatoes, cabbage slaw, potatoe
salad, beetroot, baked macaroni cheese, whole kernel
corn, pumpkin, cassava, okra or yams.
It's a smorgasbord with many other dishes often
available- benny cake(from sesame seeds), banana bread,
cocnut cake, fruit cake with local or Jamaican rum, and
of course, that popular-and reputedly aphrodisiac
mollusk-conch(pronounced "conk"). Conch, enforced with
hot peppers which uplifts the digestive system, can be
served as a chowder, cracked(deep batter-fried), stewed,
or as a pick-you-up salad(raw!).
To eat, drink and be merry in the Bahamas cannot be
without musical accompaniment and these islands are rich
with a wide variety of calypso, meringue, rock steady,
reggae and the latest local and international hits.
The vibrant musicle inheritance climaxes in the early
hours of Boxing Day with a festival called Junkanoo.
The name is said to have originated from that of a
proud African chief called John Canoe, who was brought
to the Caribbean as a slave.
Bahamians spend days making elaborate costumes out of
crepe paper, cardboard, beads, sequins and other
innovative materials. Depicting tropical subjects
tourists and residents alike jostle each other on Bay
Street huddle on bleachers, hang over balconies enjoying
the rhythmic cow bells, whistles, bugles and goat skin or
steel drums, accentuated by Kalaedoscopic costumes and
the enthralling dancing called rushing, of the
participants.
Those who have not had a night out on the town rise to
streets strewn with the reminants of Junkanoo-paper mache
heads or crepe paper banners. Children put on their Sunday
best and, to a temperature of 70-80 degrees fahrenheit,
friends and relatives are visited.
Sunset spreads around the islands, reflected in the
shallow waters that gave the Bahamas its name from the
Spanish "Bajamar". The spirit of Christmas is shown in
the sharing of food, drink, presents and good company.
**Happy Holidays**
Author: Fay Knowles, mailto:fay@knowlesrealty.com
Copyright © 2000 Fay Knowles. All rights reserved