From Dancehall to Church Hall!

 I love Lady Saw. 

Her high energy, command of the stage, voice.......She has everything that makes a great performer. 

However, it's not simply her performing skills which have caused me to be a lifelong fan, but also the fact that she is such a generous and caring person. For ever since she declared publicly that she couldn't have children, she has adopted so many needy ones and even stray animals as well.

I have never seen or heard her since her conversion to Christianity, which caused her to turn to gospel music, ditching her moniker Lady Saw and performing under her own name, Marion Hall.

About three years ago, we went on our regular trek to Sumfest, hoping to get a taste of the transition of Lady Saw to Marion Hall, but she never came on stage until after 6 am and as we had to drive back to Trelawny, we had to skip her performance.

Well she is the main reason why I decided not to miss the fund raising concert put on at Faith Chapel in Florida last night.

It was billed as another fundraiser for the victims of hurricane Melissa where all the artists were performing free of charge.

These fundraising events are coming fast and furious. I only hope the people we are all trying to help, get the assistance!

See how many ways they tell u to donate!

The affair was anchored by Jamaica's Consul General, Oliver Mair and Bishop Hernandez, who is known for his fund- raising skills.

 He is even reputed to have raised funds in record time for his Lear jet, but that's for another discussion.😁

Bishop Fernandez And Oliver Mair.

The target for the night was US$175,000 and I am sure they met it, for I left immediately after Lady Saw finished her explosive performance and they were at $140,000.

There was a surprise appearance by Father Richard Holung who is often thought of as Jamaica's male Mother Theresa.

This is because, though born into wealth and privilege, he gave it all up to establish Brothers of the Poor, which operates in the ghettos, bringing relief to the poorest, the indigent and neediest. He has been doing this for perhaps more than 50 years!

Consul General Mair introduces Father Richard Holung.

Father Holung is not just a do-gooder but also a very talented musician and songwriter whose concerts I never missed while living in Jamaica.

His appearance at this event was to promote an upcoming concert they are having in Hollywood, Florida next week to raise funds for his organisation.

Three of his brothers showcased their skills for the upcoming event.

Bwoy, am I happy I attended for it exceeded my expectations or as we say in Jamaica " it sell off."👏🥳.

Interestingly, it kicked off with a dynamic performance by Omari, whom I had never heard of before, but he touched the nerve of Jamaican Christians by bunning (condemning) obeah.

Obeah is a West African ritual brought to Jamaica by our enslaved ancestors centuries ago.

Obeahmen use spirits and indigenous elements, herbs, oils, candles and supposedly supernatural forces, to heal or cast spells, give protection etc.

 It was banned by the slavers but recently in Jamaica there has been calls for the Obeah Act to be repealed. 

This is something objected to by many spokespersons in so-called Christian community at home and apparently in Florida too, as Omari certainly stirred up the passions.

A TASTE!

                                                                        Omari

                                                                      Carlene Davis

As expected, Lady Saw, sorry, Marion Hall, brought down the house.

The Gullahs

The first time I ever heard of the Gullahs, was several decades ago when I was on a cruise which made a stop in Charleston. 

Gullah perfection. A display in the African American Museum.

I had visited the craft market there and in talking to a vendor who sounded very Caribbean, as a Caribbean person myself, I naturally asked her which island she came from?

Imagine my shock when she said she was born in South Carolina and had never been to the Caribbean!

Shock, as I had no idea any born Americans spoke anything but American!🌝

Tourists flock the market to get Gullah craft

Naturally I questioned her about their ancestry, language etc, but not being satisfied, determined to one day I would get to the bottom of who the Gullahs were, their language and lifestyle in the USA.

It took me many moons to get around to it, but I did, on a recent visit to Charleston, S. Carolina.

Incidentally in the interim I did meet a lady at my bank, who told me she was from S. Carolina which she told me was a 'must visit,' but alas, she misinformed me as to the origin of the Gullahs and their language! 

Anyway, it was her intervention which caused me to remember the project.😀

 In short, on visiting  S. Carolina, I learned that like our ancestors,  the Gullahs were brought as slaves from West Africa and because they brought their rice growing skills with them, many slave owners in S. Carolina found that very useful for their huge plantations.

Gullah iron craft

Because of their relative isolation from whites while working on large plantations in rural areas, they developed a creole culture that has preserved much of their African linguistic, artistic and cultural heritage.

 Their language which is called Geechee, evolved just like our Jamaican patois, Barbadian creole etc. 

No wonder it sounded so Caribbean when I met my first Gullah decades ago!

 Gullah traditions remain very strong in Charleston and even when they migrate north to places like New York,  I hear, like us Jamaicans, second-and third-generations often maintain many of their traditional customs and still speak the Gullah Geechee language.

They are also extremely artistic people, best known for their baskets and other creations made from Sweetgrass.

These are beautiful products which can last a lifetime, I was told. 

Because they are time consuming and delicate to make, the tend to be very expensive, some for home decorations, costing up to US$10,000 I was told! 

I thought of buying a basket myself, but on seeing the US$450 price tag, departed quickly.😁

There is  a lot of info about the Gullahs at the Afro American Museum in Charleston and I highly recommend the Gullah Tour there, to get a good feel of their interesting but somewhat similiar culture.

A fun afternoon

I had never heard of Island Space Caribbean Museum until less than two weeks ago, when I went to a storytelling session there. (https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2024/03/reflections.html?m=1). 

But as we say in Jamaica, "what nevva happen in a year happen in a day."

So here am I two weeks later, at a pleasant event where students who learned to make traditional musical instruments from scratch over a one week period, exhibited their skills. 

And I learned a lot. For example, I never knew the ubiquitous banjo was originally made from gourde (calabash) and dried goat skin. And I also learned about a similar West African musical instrument called Akonting.

Akonting in the middle. It has 3 strings. Banjo, 4.

Some instruments made by the students.

The leader of the workshop Professor Shawn Harris, formerly of Ashe, a well known Jamaican cultural group.

Two members of the audience 

          A fellow St. Elizabethian, Don Parchment, photographer.

Alex Luther, Toronto. One of the leaders at the workshop.

The largest gourde I have ever seen. It is from West Africa and used as a drum.

Students demonstrate their skills.

Learning a Haitian voodoo dance.

Some other exhibits at the museum.

Good old Air Jamaica on display

Excitement at Scott hall

Roddy blows the Abeng to alert all maroons
that there are visitors in the area. The vine around his neck
is the 5 bredda.

Both women whose bodies were taken over by spirits, are being held.

One thing we can say about "Fun and Thrills" outings, that is, there is never a dull moment.

  The outing to Scotts Hall maroon settlement in St. Mary was full of even more  excitement. 

For while we were there, two women had their bodies taken over by their ancestors and created quite a scene.

 I have seen similar scenes three times before, once at a kumina ceremony in St. Thomas, once with the "raising of the table" at Devon house and yesterday and to tell the truth, no matter how convincing they look, I can't believe it is no allt an act. 

Yesterday, when we got back from Bowling water falls, we saw quite a crowd as a group of maroons who were claiming that one faction was putting on all the events and making all the  money off their culture and traditions, was not including everyone.

This policeman was a credit to the force

Even the police was there when we arrived as there seems to be real fear of a violent outbreak. 

In fact a friend told me today that there was a notice in the Saturday papers saying that (someone, she could not remember the name) was not authorized to conduct business on behalf of the 
Scotts Hall maroons.  

I subsequently found the paper and it says; 
NOTICE, "The public is hereby notified that Mr. Noel Prehay Colonel, Uri Prehay Deputy, Natalee Burton Secretary &  Dana Henry Treasurer of the Scotts Hall maroons are no longer authorized to conduct any business on behalf of the Scotts Hall maroons."

A photo opportunity at entrance of   Maroon Town road

 But if they intended that notice to impress outsiders, it couldn't , as it was unsigned!

When we went there on the scouting mission, we were directed to Roddy who is their Public Relations Officer and he put Charles on to Sweetie who seems to be on the executive too.

On Sunday when we got there, we were met by three guides who all seem to have official positions as they all had badges.

Colonel Prehay poses with Raquel, Betty and the craft vendor

The problem seems to be that the faction that is making the accusations does not support Mr. Noel Prehay who we were told was the longest serving Maroon colonel in Jamaica....35 years. 

But his detractors say no general meetings are being held to allow them to elect new members of the executive and they have lost confidence in those who now hold the positions. 

While cockroach nuh business inna fowl fight, I must say the policeman who was there is the most efficient policeman I have ever seen in operation in Jamaica during my long life. For he was calm as he tried to moderate between the both factions and talk some sense into them. Not the usual aggressive and intimidating police we are accustomed to seeing operation. I am sorry I never got his name.

The large seeds of the cacoon vine

Anyway the excitement and taking over of the bodies by the ancestors occurred when the conflict arose and we were told that is what happens when bad vibes are around. 

Apparently the two ladies who were taken over by spirits were mother and daughter. Miss Sweetie, our great cook was the mother and when she saw her daughter's body being taken over, having to be held firmly and having white rum sprayed over her, she took a dive too.

People who were near to the daughter said after it was over, her eyes were glazed, she wanted water and asked what had happened and it was too convincing to have been an act. But I guess not until I am personally taken over by a spirit will I believe such things happen.

Thrillers pose at the healing ground during the scouting mission

Apart from that extra excitement, it was a wonderful day. There were close to forty of us who made the trek, some riding and some hiking from Grandy Hole brdge which is as far as you travel on the Junction road before bearing west to the Scotts hall settlement. 

Although this group of maroons have a lot of land in Gibbs hill, Scott hall and Castleton, all designated as communal land, we were told they can now get individual titles for pieces of land to allow them to benefit from  their being National Housing Trust contributions.

Pot a boil

 When we arrived there, we were welcomed by Roddy, who blew the abeng (proper maroon name Jebry) after sprinkling it with white rum, to give it a better sound he said. The blowing of the abeng before entering the sacred areas is to advise all maroons that there are outsiders visiting. 

He then took us to the healing ground where he said persons with all kinds of  ailments are healed. 

This requires a group of maroons to gather around the afflicted person and the ancestors will enter the body of any one  and instruct what has to be done to heal the person.

The river sometimes rises way up to the guango tree during the rainy season

Roddy also introduced us to the 5 bredda bush which is used to work spells against one's enemies.

He had previously introduced us to the seeds of the cacoon vine which he said is the largest seed pod in the world and is native to West Africa. It is used by the maroons for food and the vines for camouflage. 

We  we arrived at  the beautiful valley after crossing a stream from Irie river which forms the Bowling water fall above and headed to the picnic grounds beside the Wag Water river the food was almost ready.

We were told that when it rains, the river comes up so high it sometimes reaches half way up the large guango tree.

The beautiful valley

That area is well organised for picnics, even having a thatch building with a toilet.

 I am not talking about a pit toilet either but flush toilet to boot. 

The food was great and I really liked the fu fu which is an African dish. It is made of ground provisions plus plantains and bananas all ground up. They then prepare coconut milk as if for rundown and cook the fu fu in it. It was so delicious I had to commandeer some to go home with.


The river was not too deep as it is  the drought season but we had enough water to swim in and have a great time. 

Some of us then  walked up the Irie river to the Bowling falls which is to the west of the picnic grounds.

Because of the drought, it  too was not as heavy as it should but good enough to splash around in and have a great time.

Although there were nice craft items there, I doubt if the artist got any patronage because of the conflict between the maroons which diverted so much of our attention.

Boys will be boys!

 As usual, the A team rode back but poor Omar did not leave until long after the rest, but he seemed to have made good time on his own as he flew past us when we stopped for soup by Castleton gardens.

It was another great outing with the team, thanks to the miserable Ayatollah for the excellent organisation and Charles 1st for introducing the area to us in the first place.

Craft items on display

Some photos compliments of Omar Downie.