{"id":6600,"date":"2025-01-03T21:03:41","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T21:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6600"},"modified":"2025-01-05T21:06:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T21:06:52","slug":"generations-of-love-preserving-holiday-traditions-in-caribbean-american-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6600","title":{"rendered":"Generations of Love: Preserving Holiday Traditions in Caribbean-American Families"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by Mya Trujillo<\/p>\n<p>Spanning from November to January, the holiday season is a time dedicated to upholding numerous religious, cultural and familial traditions through widespread desires for unity and displays of generosity and gratitude.<\/p>\n<p>Despite differing customs and practices, food and communal celebrations are harbingers of intimate bonds, connecting to heritage and ancestry, especially among families who have emigrated from their native countries.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-jamaican-rum-cake-a-symbol-of-love-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Jamaican Rum Cake: A Symbol of Love\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Stephanie Stair\u2019s family is part of the 22% of the Jamaican population in the United States population. Growing up in the Bronx surrounded by other families with immigrant parents, the Stairs always shamelessly celebrate the holidays as they deem fit \u2014 especially Christmas.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-1 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-caf9af3267-0\">\u201cHoliday season in my household tends to be a little unconventional because my parents both work in hospitals, so it wasn\u2019t always a given \u2026 to be off for Christmas,\u201d said Stair. \u201cOne thing we do every year without fail is make sorrel and bake a Jamaican rum cake or Black cake.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Stair\u2019s mother would gift these rum cakes to family members. Traditionally, the sheer amount of effort and resources that go into making these desserts make receiving one a great honor in Jamaican culture. A black cake can be a physical representation of one\u2019s love and respect toward the recipient.<\/p>\n<p>This inevitable food-centered tradition was passed down by her grandmother to her mother, so Stair intends to keep it alive in the future when she has children of her own. Born and raised in New York, Stair strives to keep her Jamaican heritage alive for generations to come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing that\u2026 I am living in America, it\u2019s just the way that I keep in touch with my ancestry and my culture,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-haitian-reveillon-and-independence-day-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Haitian R\u00e9veillon and Independence Day\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Haitians \u2014 whether living in Haiti or not \u2014 also have food-centered gatherings during the holidays. On Christmas Eve, they observe the R\u00e9veillon, which is an extended dinner followed by a night of partying and gift exchanging.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-2 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2bd992b9b0-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In the following week, celebrations ramp up again, as Jan. 1 marks the Caribbean nation\u2019s independence from France. They feast on the traditional squash-based soup joumou, a staple during Independence Day as enslaved Haitians were prohibited to eat this during the French occupation. It is typically seen as the holiday dinner\u2019s inaugural entree.<\/p>\n<p>Born and raised in Broward County, Florida by Haitian parents who preserved these customs, Jasmeen Noel is incredibly fond of authentically celebrating these holidays. Being incredibly family-oriented, she cherishes these opportunities to surround herself with her loved ones and celebrate their culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really important to keep that going, especially in the climate that Haiti is in now, it\u2019s just super important that we do these things to keep the traditions alive for us and future generations of Haitian-Americans as well,\u201d Noel told The Informer.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-decorations-and-gift-giving-from-the-west-indies\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Decorations and Gift-Giving from the West Indies\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>T. Scott\u2019s parents both immigrated to the U.S. from the West Indies and seem to maintain festivities seen in the Caribbean islands, while also adding aspects of Black American culture.<\/p>\n<p>In Nevis, families enthusiastically decorate their homes with endless strings of lights and ornaments. In traditional West Indian fashion, the Scotts make sure to emphasize decorating during the holidays, transforming their home into a cove of Black Santas and never forgetting to adorn the tree with a gold Black angel topper.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-3 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-dc2e0e383b-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cMy mom and I loved a discount deal on holiday decor, so we\u2019d usually make a day or two collecting cute finds and deciding where to put them while my father plays Nat King Cole,\u201d said Scott.<\/p>\n<p>Their family also typically centers their Christmas celebration around Dec. 24, with a large breakfast consisting of both saltfish and banana fritters, the latter being considered more of a holiday treat than the former. Scott enjoys gathering and reconnecting with their family over a meal and hopes to pass down these traditions of communal celebrations and gift-giving.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it has already shifted to be less materialistic as I\u2019ve gotten older, but still I feel getting my loved ones something special \u2026 is important,\u201d they told The Informer. \u201cI believe a good gift that really acknowledges a person\u2019s wants can make someone feel so seen, and I think the world just needs a lot of that generally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Mya Trujillo Spanning from November to January, the holiday season is a time dedicated to upholding numerous<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-history"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6603,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6600\/revisions\/6603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}