Nigerian high commissioner anticipates first Jamaican Christmas

Racially, black Jamaicans have a connection to the people of Nigeria, which was one of the places, along with Ghana, in West Africa, from which people were taken to work on plantations here as chattels. Invariably, black Jamaicans are descendants of those West Africans who were brought here.

Much of our tangible and intangible cultural elements that form part of our heritage are retentions of what our African ancestors brought with them across the Atlantic. So, it was not surprising when the Nigerian high commissioner to Jamaica, Ambassador Dr Maureen Tamuno, remarked that if some Jamaicans do not speak, she cannot tell they are Jamaicans. They look like the people in her own country. She was speaking recently with a Gleaner team in an exclusive conversation at her Waterloo Road office in St Andrew.

It was also no surprise when she mentioned Jonkonnu after she was asked about what she was anticipating for her first Christmas here. Jonkonnu is a masquerade of various characters who usually march through the streets, mainly at Christmastime, to the sound of traditional music. Masquerades, such as Jonkonnu, are quite popular in Nigeria, and so the diplomat from River state thought she would see some masqueraders here also. Unfortunately, Dr Tamuno was told the once must-see masquerade had seen better days, and has not been very popular for quite a long while now.

Back home in Nigeria, where two major religions, Islam and Christianity, co-exist, Christmas is a very big holiday in which people go back to their villages in droves to be with their families and relatives. “That’s where the culture is activated,” Dr Tamuno declared. It is a time to give gifts and spread familial and neighbourly love. Visits to people’s home are frequent, and so is the exchange of pleasantries.

There is a much sewing and cooking, church going, state- and non-governmental organisations-sponsored carolling, “thanking of God”, and resolutions for the new year. Homes are elaborately decorated, as in Jamaica, and so too are public spaces, which are sponsored by corporate entities as part of their civic responsibilities. She said she was yet to see such sponsored decorations in Kingston, where she is stationed, while being also the ambassador for Haiti, Dominican Republic and Belize.

Ambassador Tamuno did not deliberately travel home for the Christmas because she wanted to see the similarities between Christmas in Jamaica and Nigeria. As a matter of fact, some of her family members arrived in the island on Monday to help her celebrate Christmas in ‘Ja’. She wants to see well-known singers in concert and going into the urban centres, and around the city to see public decorations, and to visit Montego Bay, among other things.

And while Dr Tamuno might not chance upon a Jonkonnu parade, she certainly will not miss the Nigerian food, as she has a Jamaican chef, whom she – herself being a chef – has taught to cook Nigerian meals. Yam, okra, peanuts, cassava, breadfruit, etc, are no stranger to her, nor is ‘mannish water’ (goat soup). Curried goat is not uncommon either, but in Nigeria goat meat is consumed with the skin on it.

When some people heard that she was coming here, she said they assumed she was coming to a country of reggae music and ganja smoking, that Jamaica was a “fun” and “entertainment” place. “But, that is different from what I have seen, that is different from the message I’m taking home,” the mother of four said. Jamaica is much more than reggae music and ganja smoking.

“Despite the notion that most people in Nigeria had of Jamaica, I met something entirely different – very friendly people, very accommodating, very warm, and then, of course, the beauty of the beaches. So, it’s amazing, and it’s a destination,” she shared.

But she is wary of the suddenness of the rain here. She doesn’t like the fact that it sometimes comes without “notice”. It is the hope, then, that the Jamaican rain does not fall suddenly on Dr Tamuno’s Jamaican Christmas parade. She’s looking forward to it.

editorial@gleanerjm.com