Stage set for joyous Christmas

Jamaicans are relieved to enjoy a brighter Christmas season this year with a return to popular Christmas traditions without the restrictions of lockdowns, nightly curfews, and other COVID-19 containment measures which placed a damper on the most joyous time of the year in 2020 and 2021.

Christmas concerts, cantatas, services, parties, treats and other special holiday events have returned to the calendar, with large in-person gatherings back on the cards and without time restrictions this Yuletide season.

Warming up for the season are sisters Angela Taylor and Joan Gallimore Burbick, who told The Gleaner that they were looking forward to getting out of the house and visiting with friends and relatives.

The last two Christmases were grim, the sisters said, as heightened fears of transmitting the deadly coronavirus caused them to stay inside.

Last Christmas, nightly curfew restrictions were in place between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day as well as the days after the holidays. The curfews were lifted on January 14.

Similarly, but with tighter restrictions, in 2020, the curfews for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day commenced at 7 p.m. and ended at 5 a.m.

“We [didn’t] really go out because we didn’t know if anybody there had the sickness and we didn’t want to bring anything there, so we stayed home and talked on the phone,” Taylor said.

She added that video calls allowed her to stay in touch with friends and family as she adjusted to the new reality.

“It was very boring,” Gallimore Burbick admitted, adding that before the COVID-19 experience, they would enjoy going to the beach and attending grand market festivities in the Corporate Area.

“We feel much better [this year] ... even though we still have to wear our mask,” Taylor said, noting that they still take safety precautions because they are among the most vulnerable.

The fun-filled family traditions include inviting loved ones from abroad to visit the island and hosting friends and relatives for a large festive celebration and dinner, especially on Christmas Day.

Even though Venice Campbell usually enjoyed her Christmas dinner alone before returning to work, the social worker noted that the last two Christmases had taken a mental toll on many Jamaicans as their normal routines were disrupted.

“During Christmas, I was mainly at work, so I wouldn’t want to come out and interact with anybody and head back to the children because I work with a vast number of people. I can’t expose myself and then head back to my own family,” she explained.

Social distancing and mask-wearing mandates, she said, had put a damper on the spirit of the population, especially the more outgoing people who were unable to greet and interact with friends in the manner they were accustomed to.

“Sometimes Miss Mary Jane used to go look for Mass Tom,” she expressed using figurative names, noting that the pandemic resulted in painful separations.

Campbell said that as the transmission rate has slowed down this year, “people are [now] able to take their children outside as a family and have socials together”.

This, she reasoned, makes a lot of difference and sets the stage for the 2022 Christmas season to be more delightful that the last two.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com