How To Celebrate Christmas In Jamaica

Jamaica has more churches per square mile than any other country in the world, so it’s not surprising that Christmas is one of the most important religious and cultural celebrations. Festivities run from early December to New Year’s Day, with non-stop parties and family gatherings. Despite the distinct lack of snow and chimneys, Santa Claus still visits Jamaica and gift giving is part of the tradition. Here’s how to celebrate a tropical Christmas Jamaican style.

Christmas Preparations

The temperature drops slightly as the ‘crismus breeze’ arrives in early December, making things more comfortable and marking the start of the season. Towns and cities create a festive atmosphere by decorating the streets and palm trees with brightly colored Christmas lights known locally as ‘pepper lights’. Houses in affluent neighborhoods compete to create the best light displays, and even local taxis are decorated.

Christmas trees are everywhere; the plastic kind may dominate, but locally grown Blue Mountain pines are more elegant. Grown high up in the lush mountains, they are a softer, lighter alternative to the Norwegian pine. It is also traditional to decorate the home with bright red Poinsettias at Christmas. They’re so popular that it can be necessary to pre-order them months in advance.

The long standing tradition of ‘Gran Market’ is one of the biggest days of the year for many Jamaicans – especially children. From Christmas Eve until Christmas morning, vendors gather to sell their wares at key locations around the country. Festivities continue through the night into the early hours of Christmas morning, keeping shoppers entertained. The best Gran Market in Jamaica is found in Linstead, St Catherine. It is a shoppers’ paradise, offering the opportunity to buy everything from last-minute gifts and Christmas decorations to clothing and food. However, many people attend just to enjoy the party atmosphere.

The traditional masquerade party of ‘John Canoe’ or Jonkanoo is one of the highlights of ‘Gran Market’. It involves people dressing up and wearing masks while dancing though the streets to accompanying music. The Jonkanoo tradition came to Jamaica with slaves from Africa and was once popular across the island. Now it is more confined to the rural areas.

John Canoe festival celebrants, Kingston, Jamaica

Christmas Day

Christmas Day starts with a traditional Jamaican breakfast of ackee & saltfish, breadfruit and boiled bananas. Families will normally then attend church. Mass is an important aspect of Christmas for most Jamaicans, who turn out in their ‘Sunday best’ for this special day. Christmas mass is a joyous celebration with enthusiastic carol singing and hand clapping. Steel drums and reggae versions of popular Christmas songs give an unmistakably Caribbean feel to the day.

Christmas dinner is a big event that brings family and friends together to celebrate and feast. Roast turkey is notably absent from most Jamaican dinner tables and replaced with curried goat, roast chicken and a much-loved ham. Rice and peas take on a Christmas twist, being made with pigeon peas instead of red kidney beans. The food is accompanied by that seasonal favourite drink Sorrel – usually made with a generous portion of rum. The traditional dessert of rum-laden fruit cake finishes the meal.

Boxing Day

The party starts again in Kingston on Boxing Day with the National Pantomime performance of The Upsies and de Downzies dem . The Little Theatre Movement, a Jamaican institution, held its inaugural panto on December 26th, 1941 and has done so annually ever since. This Christmas show is a celebration of Jamaican culture, folklore and history.

The famous dancehall show, Sting (no relation to Sting of Police fame), also takes place on Boxing Day evening. For dancehall fans everywhere, this is unmissable. The show usually starts at 8pm but the real entertainment rarely begins before midnight. In short, December is non-stop party season with all kinds of celebrations taking place, from beach parties to huge public sound system events and everything in between.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.