The Christmas Eve rush… and other traditions

By Lara Pickford-Gordon

snrwriter.camsel@catholictt.org

Putting the house away’ on Christmas Eve was common in the past and some people say they find excitement still doing that today. Much has changed though, with Christmas trees, decorations and curtains up weeks before Christmas.

Whether it was known or not, there is a rationale for the Christmas Eve preparations rush. Christmas Eve is the official end of Advent. The weeks prior focused on preparing ourselves spiritually for the coming of Jesus during the worldly concerns. The atmosphere is subdued before celebration. As I spoke to some seniors, it was clear that children were actively involved in their families’ Christmas preparations.

My 88-year-old mother, Lorne, fondly recalls Christmas as a child. The weekend leading up to Christmas was busy, cleaning, house-painting, shining/polishing the floor and pastelle making. There was no pastelle press then, and the cornmeal balls were spread by hand. She and her sister Grace helped their mother, Emelda, spread the corn. Her brother Alva had the task of tying the pastelles. There were two hams for Christmas. The ‘tar ham’ was encased in tar which had to be removed along with the net and the ham soaked in water before cooking in a five-gallon oil tin atop “three big stone in the yard”. The “regular salt ham” was baked.

From Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, there was “no sleep”—curtains to hang, her mother baking the sweetbread and bread. She and other older siblings wrapped gifts for the younger ones who woke on Christmas Day “eyes wide to see the gifts and the tree lighted up”.

The tree at one time was homemade. Rope was dyed green by her mother, then she “beat it out”. Her father Leo and his nephew stripped it, and then it was cut into different lengths and twisted on to wire piece by piece until branches were formed. That was nailed onto wood to form a tree.

Michael Sookhan said he grew up in Santa Flora with two older brothers and two sisters. According to him, it was the “primitive era 1943 onwards” when there was no pipe-borne water or electricity—flambeaux were used for lighting.

Children were expected to assist in readying the home, with tasks of varnishing furniture, painting, and cleaning. Attending Holy Mass was “a must” Sookhan said. On Christmas Day, everyone gathered at the table for breakfast. The children were asked to say prayers before meals. The highlight for them was opening gifts. “Some long faces, some happy faces but all were comforted by our parents soothing and encouraging words,” he said. The gifts were items like toothbrushes and “sweet soap”.

“I enjoyed what we had,” Sookhan said. Bread and cakes were baked in a dirt oven and ham boiled over a wood fire. There was homemade ginger beer, sorrel and ponche de crème. When the community Parang band dropped by, the children danced joyfully. “It was really the happiest days of our lives,” Sookhan said. Christmas Day was “really total enjoyment, togetherness, love, peace, absolute happiness with neighbours, friends, and family gatherings. What memories we hold dear in our hearts”.

Angela Pidduck said she was born in Greenhill Village Diego Martin and was the eldest of four; two more siblings were born later. She recalled her grandmother had two “huge earthenware jars which were used to “set the sorrel and ginger beer”.

“The sorrel had been ‘picked’ which meant washing, drying, removing the seeds and placing the red fruit in the jar with water, spice, and left to ‘set’,  for some days before being strained, and sweetened with granulated sugar, more water added and one or two bottles of soda water a few days before Christmas and bottled,” Pidduck said. In the other jar was the ginger which has been grated until it “left your hands on fire” she said. Water was added with some cloves, and it was left to set. When ready, it was strained, and enough water added to ensure the ginger taste was not too strong. The drink was then sweetened and bottled for Christmas.

Pidduck said, “the ham had to be boiled in a large pan on a wooden fire in the yard. Picnic hams which are popped into the oven came later.”

She said of the fruitcake preparation: “The prunes, raisins, and other dried fruits were minced and placed in large bottles with cherry brandy to soak until the black cake was made just before Christmas again. Nowadays my contemporaries who still must make their black cake, have been steaming the fruit and to me it tastes very good.”

The family moved to “a more modern home” located in Newtown when she was ten.

“I have never forgotten the annual painting of the furniture as there were no built-in cupboards and vanities…. dressing tables, cupboards for hanging clothes etc., had to be painted annually in colours to fit in with the curtains, sheets general decor.”

Pidduck’s father was the house painter. “That was the time of oil paint which took a while to dry and had a strong smell. So as my father wielded his paint brushes in the colours chosen by my mom, the movable furniture stood at various angles in the bedrooms, and we were cautioned about not touching the wet paint.”

Her father had his own routine at Christmas time. “My Mom was warned to say all that was to be painted before the annual Harvard Club Christmas Dinner, held sometime around the second weekend in December, as that signalled the start of Christmas celebrations for my Dad and his friends.”

Thinking back to the rush to get certain things done before Christmas, “but not too long before”, Pidduck realises somethings could be done long before or simply not done at that time.