more from the 1820s

Cynric R Williams, A Tour Through the Island of Jamaica from the Western to the Eastern End in the Year 1823, 1826

I was grumbling in imagination at the incessant clamour of the cocks on the morning of Christmas Day, when my ears were assaulted with another sort of

music, not much more melodi[o]us. This was a chorus of negroes singing “Good

morning to night cap" and “health to master and mistress." They came into the house and began dancing. I slipped on my dressing gown and mingled in

their orgies, much to the diversion of the black damsels, as well as the inmates of the house, who came into the piazza to witness the ceremonies. We gave the fiddler a dollar, and they departed to their grounds to prepare their provisions for two or three days, and we saw no more of them till the evening, when they again assembled on the lawn before the house with their gombays, banjos, and an old drum, made of a hollow tree, with a piece of sheep's skin stretched over it. Some of the women carried small calabashes with pebble in them, stuck on short stick, which they rattled in time to the songs, or rather howls of the musicians. They divided themselves into parties to dance, some before the gombays, in a ring, to perform a bolero or a sort of love-dance as it is called, when the gentlemen occasionally wiped the perspiration off the shining faces of their black beauties, who, in turn, performed the same service to the minstrels. Others, performed a sort of pyrrhic before the obo drummer, beginning gently, and gradually quickening their motions, until they seemed agitated by the furies. They were all dressed in their best; some of the men in long-tailed coats, one of the gombayers in old regimentals; the women in muslins and cambrics with coloured handkerchiefs tastefully disposed around their heads, and ear-rings, necklaces and bracelets of all sorts, in profusion.

The entertainment was kept up till nine or ten o'clock in the evening and during the time they were regaled with punch and sanda [sic] in abundance they came occasionally and asked for porter and wine. Indeed a perfect equality seemed to reign among all parties many came and shook hands with their master and mistress, nor did the young ladies refuse this salutation any more than the gentlemen. The merriment became rather boisterous as the punch operated, and the slaves sang satirical philippines against their masters, communicating a little free advice now and then; but they never lost of decorum, and at last retired apparently quite satisfied with their saturnalia, to dance the rest of the night at their own habitations.

I must not omit one circumstance that diverted us all exceedingly during the festivity, and seemed to justify the title of Saturnalia, which I have given to it. An old grey-headed man who had formerly been appointed the watchman to guard the riegro grounds, and had occasionally abused the trust, and robbed grounds he was bound to protect: considering his age and venerable appearance, Mr. Graham had always endeavoured to pacify those who had been robbed, by compelling the thief to make restitution from his own grounds, rather than flogging him: however the old rogue, having been detected in the very act of some outrageous robbery, had thought it prudent to retire, and had absented himself from the estate for two years previous to this festival, in the midst of which he made his unexpected appearance, and came up to his master laughing with perfect nonchalance. He shook hands with him as the others had done, and said “he was sorry he had been a bad boy, but he never would do so any more.’ So he received a free pardon.

The next morning, a little after breakfast time, the slaves reappeared dressed in fresh costime, that of yesterday being, perhaps, a little deranged with their romping. A new ceremony was to be exhibited. First came eight or ten young girls marching before a man dressed up in a mask with a grey beard and long flowing hair, who carried the model of a house on his head. This house is called the Jonkanoo, and the bearer is generally chosen for his superior activity in dancing. He first saluted his master and mistress, and then capered about with an astonishing agility and violence. The girls alsodanced without changing their position, moving their elbows and knees and keeping time with the calabashes filled with small stones. One of the damsels betraying, as it seemed, a little too much freshness m her gestures, was reproved by her companions for her imperance; they called her Miss Brazen, and told her she ought to be ashamed. All this time an incessant hammering was kept up on the gombay, and the cotta (a Windsor chair taken from the piazza to serve as a secondary drum) and the Jonkanoo's attendant went about collecting money from the dancers and from the white people. Two or throe strange Negroes were invited to join, as a compliment of respect; they also contributed to the Jonkanoo man, who I am told, collects sometimes from ten to fifteen pounds on the occasion. All this ceremony is certainly a commemoration of the deluge. The custom is African and religious, although the purpose is forgotten. Some writer, whose name I forget, says that the house is an emblem of Noah's Ark, and that Jonkanoo means the sacred boat or the sacred dove - cake meaning sacred and Jona a dove, in Hebrew, or Samaritan, but as I have no pretension to etymology, I leave this subject to the literati. The Negroes have a custom of performing lubations [sic] when they drink. When the old runaway thief of a watchman reconciled himself to his master, he received a glass of grog in token of forgiveness on the one side, and repentance on the other; first, that he should not be flogged, and secondly, that he should not run away any more. On receiving the glass of grog, he poured a few drops on the ground, and drank off the rest to the health of his master and mistress.

On all these occasions of festivity the mulattos kept aloof, as if they disdained

to mingle with the negroes ; and some of the pious, the regenerated slaves,

also objected to participate in the heathen practices of their ancestors. Yet they seemed to cast many a wistful look at the dancers, more especially after they had taken their allowance of grog, which it was no part of their faith to renounce. My friend Quashie had got into disgrace, and came to me to intercede for him. He had lamed the horse Romulas or Romblass, in a nocturnal ride to another estate, where he had a second wife. His mode of getting the horse out of the stable was not a little ingenious: the door is always locked at night and the key brought into the house; but the climate requiring security only from rain, two sides of the stables are not even boarded, being defended only by strong bars of wood or rails, one of these was taken out by Quashie, who then tied the horse’s legs together, and throwing him down, dragged him under the other bars, unfettered him, made him get up, and rode off to his Dulcinea. He had returned before daylight, and had been detected performing the same ceremony to drag the horse into the stable again, and by some awkwardness he had lamed him. I could not have ventured to intercede for him, for there is something so aggravating in a servant’s abuse of his master's dumb animals ; however, Mr Graham only put him in the stocks on Christmas day, and dismissed him from the house to work in future in the fields; but Quashie felt it as a heavy punishment, for he begged to be flogged again and again, if the mister would let him still be groom ; but he begged in vain. While the negroes were enjoying their festivities we were not idle or indifferent on our part; our little dances were kept up every night with a great deal mirth and good fellowship. Music and dancing, billiards, cards and chess, all in turns presented their allurements. I was a little quizzed for remarking that the planters would be called to account by the reformers in England for letting the negroes dance on Christmas day, and was called a saint, - Saint Newcome. Mr. Graham told me there would be a rebellion in this Island if any attempt was made to curtail the enjoyments of the blacks, even on religious principles; but this must be prejudice, though it might have, such an effect on the French, perhaps.

  Alexander Barclay, A Practical View of the Present State of Slavery in the West Indies, 1826 

The young girls of a plantation, or occasionally of two neighbouring plantations leagued, form what is called “a set.” They dress exactly in uniform, with gowns of some neat pattern of printed cotton, and take the name of Blue Girls, Yellow Girls, etc. according to the dress and ribbon they have chosen. They have always with them in their excursions a fiddle, drum, and tambourine, frequently boys playing fifes, a distinguishing flag which is waved on a pole, and generally some fantastical figure, or toy, such as a castle or tower, surrounded with mirrors. A matron attends who possesses some degree of authority, and is called Queen of the Sett.... Thus equipped, and generally accompanied by some friends, they proceed to the neighbouring plantation villages, and always visit the master’s or manager’s house, into which they enter without ceremony, and where they are joined by the white people in a dance.... A party of forty or fifty young girls thus attired, with their hair braided over their brows, beads round their necks, and gold ear-rings, present a very interesting and amusing sight, as they approach a house dancing, with their music playing, and Joncanoe-men capering and playing tricks.

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joy lumsden 2006.