The parishs of Jamaica

[BakYaSoh]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Frome was probably the closest "big" town to us, though we were quite distant from there.

I remember just how excited we'd get when we'd come back home from foreign. All those different shades of green and red and every other color on god's green Earth ready fi greet wi.

And the excitement my brothers and I would feel as we left the pavement behind and heard our uncle moan about how dutty dut road gwen mash up im cyar. As we'd pass rows and rows of crops and cow and goat and hen as we approached closer to home.

Of course, back in dem day deh, we nevah have no lectriksity nor running watah. Drawing a bath was an all morning affair. (You had to actually "draw" a bath back then -- as in draw the water from the well, heat it up, and fill the bath with it.)

[BND1999]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

And Frome is in what parish.. i want to find it on the map

sometimes those days you recall... sounds so simple. im sure hard too.. but it's refreshing in comparison to the chaotic worlds and all the trappings most of us live with...

[BakYaSoh]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Frome is north of Savanna La Mar. There's a sugar works there that figured prominently in Jamaica's history. In 1938, a strike began in Frome, which would become the first step on the road to Jamaican independence. It is during this strike that Busta and Norman Manley come into national prominence.

Members of my family were involved in the strike, both as activists and as employees of Frome Sugar Works -- the company the strike was against.

--
Those days were very simple for me, as I was so young, and we had a houseful of staff to see to our every whim. (No offense intended -- that's just the way it was.) Even as a child, I was an activist. I bristled at the thought that anyone was less equal than I. I regularly lectured my nursemaid, the gardener, and anyone else that couldn't escape my prattling on the virtues of equality.

Despite the regular box I got for hanging out with the obeahman, I would go there almost every afternoon and listen to his stories. I would sit, sometimes for hours, listening to him telling Anancy stories or stories from the Mahabharata (Hindu Bible). Oddly, I learned most of my own family history from this man. His family had lived in the area for generations and he knew everything about everyone going back to the Columbus, it seemed.

[Green_Biscuit]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Hi GA, nice to see you! That childhood sounds cool, although perhaps different than others on the board have experienced. I would have had to be beaten to keep me from the Obeahman. I would have been there everyday too!

[mangoskin]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Originally posted by BakYaSoh:
[qb] Frome is north of Savanna La Mar. There's a sugar works there that figured prominently in Jamaica's history. In 1938, a strike began in Frome, which would become the first step on the road to Jamaican independence. It is during this strike that Busta and Norman Manley come into national prominence.

[/qb]

it was said that the sugarcane workers were living in trees at the time..

anyway, Tate Gallery (Tate & Lyle big UK conglomerate) in London was built off the proceeds from sugarcane.

good and interesting thread..

[SandiF]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Yes! Those are some of the places I came across. Silver Springs was like an enchantment, I felt like I had stepped into the Garden of Eden.

I'll never forget the ride through Jerusalem Mountain. The clouds hovering right over our shoulders. Just like a tease, waiting for our fingertips to touch them, then drifting on to settle over the top of a rugged hill. The wild piglets squealing and running alongside the bike. Riding up a narrow mountain path, before we know it, the path becomes too narrow for the bike to continue. Not much space to turn the bike around, and grabbing ahold of a nearby donkey to make it down the hill. LOL!

I remember we stopped and asked a few folks which Parish we were in ... some said Hanover, some said Westmoreland. All weren't too certain! I'll never forget one man said "Yu inna God's country!"

We did entered right off a big cotton tree outside of Montego Bay proper ... left turn heading west. That ride took us through some dense tropical areas of Trelawny, and into Hanover. Finally, into Westmoreland, where we came out through Petersfield, near the ice plant where the nearby cold spring waterfall rushing out of a rock. Sweat and road grime, we parked the bike, stripped down and showered under that freezing cold spring waterfall! I can't remember where we headed back that night ... most likely Littlebay.

Originally posted by IM:
[qb] Sandi are you talking about all those roads back in Silver Spring, Froom, Grange Hill, and points east and west where you can come out near Orange Bay or go the other way and end up just about anywhere, including Montego Bay if you go far enough? If that is the same area, I remember some beautiful vista's from up there. I went riding back there on a scooter one day, made lot's a little stops and had huge fun trying to ditch one of those "tourist guide wanna be's" that followed me and a girlfriend who was riding on back of my scooter, from out of the old gas station on Nompriel road, and trying to get us to follow him. I haven't laughed that hard many times as that, it was a fun day. We finally got rid of him when we came back out by Silver Spring and headed to Negril Spots and Little Bay. The poor guy ran out of enough gas to keep persuing us, LOL!

I'm with you on the nostalgic streak here, It's been awhile for me too, and it's gonna be another good while still... [/qb]

[BND1999]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Sandi... Ah Jerusalem Mountain... that's the place I ALWAYS go every time i am in Westmoreland..... actually began my love of photography..... you describe it well... now i know why you loved it so.. when i first found that spot several years back.. i said this is the place id like to be if i spent time in Jamaica...

Since then I've fallen in love with other areas as well.. but i can easily see being there..


((GA)) thanks for more of your anecdotes... loving this... I see Frome on the map.. near Truros gate not far from Georges Plain.... you know i will go and find it now

[BND1999]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Originally posted by SandiF:
[qb] We did entered right off a big cotton tree outside of Montego Bay proper ... left turn heading west. That ride took us through some dense tropical areas of Trelawny, and into Hanover. Finally, into Westmoreland, where we came out through Petersfield, near the ice plant where the nearby cold spring waterfall rushing out of a rock. Sweat and road grime, we parked the bike, stripped down and showered under that freezing cold spring waterfall! I can't remember where we headed back that night ... most likely Littlebay.

[/qb]

Im confused where you say heading west from montego bay and being in dense areas of Trelawny.... isnt that east the other way.. west would be St James.. Hanover.. etc....

[BakYaSoh]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Originally posted by mangoskin:
[qb]

Originally posted by BakYaSoh:
[qb] Frome is north of Savanna La Mar. There's a sugar works there that figured prominently in Jamaica's history. In 1938, a strike began in Frome, which would become the first step on the road to Jamaican independence. It is during this strike that Busta and Norman Manley come into national prominence.

[/qb]

it was said that the sugarcane workers were living in trees at the time..

anyway, Tate Gallery (Tate & Lyle big UK conglomerate) in London was built off the proceeds from sugarcane.

good and interesting thread.. [/qb]

I would strike to if I had to live in a tree.

But wait, mi hafe wondah why dem eena di tree. Could ie be ca duppy deh bout a night time han dem cyatch dem fraid. (Doan mind mi, jus teking serious ting mek joak.)

[BakYaSoh]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Originally posted by BND1999:
[qb]

Originally posted by SandiF:
[qb] We did entered right off a big cotton tree outside of Montego Bay proper ... left turn heading west. That ride took us through some dense tropical areas of Trelawny, and into Hanover. Finally, into Westmoreland, where we came out through Petersfield, near the ice plant where the nearby cold spring waterfall rushing out of a rock. Sweat and road grime, we parked the bike, stripped down and showered under that freezing cold spring waterfall! I can't remember where we headed back that night ... most likely Littlebay.

[/qb]

Im confused where you say heading west from montego bay and being in dense areas of Trelawny.... isnt that east the other way.. west would be St James.. Hanover.. etc.... [/qb]

Well yu know, miss, east han west doan mean di sayme ting when yu reach eena bush, enoh. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[BakYaSoh]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

I was hoping to hear more from those that have recently been to Hanover/Westmoreland. Pleeeaase! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]ray:

[Guest]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Originally posted by BakYaSoh:
[qb]

Originally posted by mangoskin:
[qb]

Originally posted by BakYaSoh:
[qb] Frome is north of Savanna La Mar. There's a sugar works there that figured prominently in Jamaica's history. In 1938, a strike began in Frome, which would become the first step on the road to Jamaican independence. It is during this strike that Busta and Norman Manley come into national prominence.

[/qb]

it was said that the sugarcane workers were living in trees at the time..

anyway, Tate Gallery (Tate & Lyle big UK conglomerate) in London was built off the proceeds from sugarcane.

good and interesting thread.. [/qb]

I would strike to if I had to live in a tree.

But wait, mi hafe wondah why dem eena di tree. Could ie be ca duppy deh bout a night time han dem cyatch dem fraid. (Doan mind mi, jus teking serious ting mek joak.) [/qb]

Off-topic: In the US, someone once made a comment to me about Jamaicans living in trees playing the bongos. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

Sorry for the interruption - carry on - interesting thread.

[BakYaSoh]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

I had a teacher in High School tell the class that Jamaicans wore grass skirts and went about barefoot. By the time she'd gotten to explaining to the class that Jamaica was in Africa, I had had enough.

I got up and very loudly asked, "WHERE IN AFRICA, EXACTLY, IS JAMAICA? Can you point it out on the map" -- there was a large wall map of Africa. After spending a few minutes looking for Jamaica around the Congo, she suspended me.

But American teachers are very bright, sometimes. When I was in elementary school in Oregon, a teacher, not knowing I was Jewish, explained to the class that all Jews had horns and ate little Christian children for Passover. My father came up to that school and beat the living excrement out of both the teacher and the principal. When the police showed up, wouldn't you know it -- he was the only Jew on the force. My father was not arrested.

[Green_Biscuit]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Originally posted by BakYaSoh:
[qb] I had a teacher in High School tell the class that Jamaicans wore grass skirts and went about barefoot. By the time she'd gotten to explaining to the class that Jamaica was in Africa, I had had enough.

I got up and very loudly asked, "WHERE IN AFRICA, EXACTLY, IS JAMAICA? Can you point it out on the map" -- there was a large wall map of Africa. After spending a few minutes looking for Jamaica around the Congo, she suspended me.

But American teachers are very bright, sometimes. When I was in elementary school in Oregon, a teacher, not knowing I was Jewish, explained to the class that all Jews had horns and ate little Christian children for Passover. My father came up to that school and beat the living excrement out of both the teacher and the principal. When the police showed up, wouldn't you know it -- he was the only Jew on the force. My father was not arrested. [/qb]

OMG! Where did that happen? I would like to think that couldn't happen anymore with certifications and all the requirements that need to be met. Both stories are scary beond words!

[BakYaSoh]

Re: The parishs of Jamaica

Originally posted by Green_Biscuit:
[qb]

Originally posted by BakYaSoh:
[qb] I had a teacher in High School tell the class that Jamaicans wore grass skirts and went about barefoot. By the time she'd gotten to explaining to the class that Jamaica was in Africa, I had had enough.

I got up and very loudly asked, "WHERE IN AFRICA, EXACTLY, IS JAMAICA? Can you point it out on the map" -- there was a large wall map of Africa. After spending a few minutes looking for Jamaica around the Congo, she suspended me.

But American teachers are very bright, sometimes. When I was in elementary school in Oregon, a teacher, not knowing I was Jewish, explained to the class that all Jews had horns and ate little Christian children for Passover. My father came up to that school and beat the living excrement out of both the teacher and the principal. When the police showed up, wouldn't you know it -- he was the only Jew on the force. My father was not arrested. [/qb]

OMG! Where did that happen? I would like to think that couldn't happen anymore with certifications and all the requirements that need to be met. Both stories are scary beond words! [/qb]

I'm no young chicken, so you needn't worry that these things continue to happen. (The USA was still segregated in my youth.)