Jamaica: 4 Fascinating Jamaican Traditions and Customs That Make the Country Unique

Jamaica is a beautiful and diverse country with great food and music, lush forests, and beautiful beaches. It also has a lot of unique traditions and ways of doing things.

Jamaica has a very long and complicated history. According to Big 7 Travel, Jamaica was a British colony from 1655 to 1962 that affected the country's strong sense of identity. It also led to many Jamaican traditions and customs that are unique.

Jamaica: Famous Jamaican Tradition and Customs

Here are some of the fascinating Jamaican traditions and customs that separate the Caribbean nation from other countries.

Rastafarian Lifestyle

Although Rastafarianism is a religion, it is more of a way of life that is unique to Jamaica. It started with Christianity and grew in the 1930s. Rastas are peaceful, which may have contributed to Jamaica's image as a place where people do not care much.

They choose to wear their hair in dreadlocks rather than cutting it because they think that their hair gives them power, and they smoke marijuana to have more spiritual awareness. Rastas view their bodies as temples and only feed them wholesome, well-balanced diets, primarily vegetables. Even though there are Rastas everywhere, they are intrinsically Jamaican.

Revivalism Ceremonies

Although revival rites are common in European and African cultures, they have changed over time into something unique, making it a Jamaican custom. It began in Jamaica around 1860 as part of a religious movement called the Great Revival. During the practice, people pray, drum, clap, chant, shout, dance, and stomp their feet.

Revivalist Christianity in Jamaica does not believe that the worlds of the living and the dead are separate, so spirits can affect people's daily lives. Thus, the best way to ensure the spirits are happy is to worship them during ceremonies.

Nine Nights Ritual

The "Nine Nights" ceremony, which is an extended wake lasting nine days and traditionally incorporates music, anecdotes, a lot of food, and plenty of rum, continues as one of the solid Jamaican traditions, despite many traditional funeral rites disappearing in the country today.

The celebrations are typically highly vibrant and enjoyable as friends and family gather to honor the deceased's life. After the ninth night and once the festivities are over, the dead will be buried. In the past, the "Nine Nights" ceremony was being done to ensure that the dead person's "duppy" would not return to haunt the living.

The other soul of a person is called a "duppy" in Jamaica. After death, one of the souls goes to heaven, while the other stays on earth. According to Rough Guides, since duppies can do good and bad things, the island came up with many ways to make them happy.

Kumina Dance

Although Kumina is one of the Jamaican traditions performed for wakes, burials, and monuments, it can also be carried out for other human situations. The most significant components of a Kumina session are drumming, singing, and dancing. Drums are the most important since it is said that the sound of their beating can pacify ghosts.

Kumina is widely performed at St. Thomas to mark important occasions like weddings. Many believed that Kumina dances could also be used to attract a lover and win legal battles.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: KUMINA (Chor. Rex Nettleford, 1971) - From National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica