Christmas Trees - The Inkberry - Part Three

The most beloved tree used in the islands at Christmas is the inkberry, a member of the Madder family. I hunted for a picture but couldn't find one. The inkberry, as its name suggests has small dark blue-black berries which were used to make dyes. It has small leaves and thorns. You can read a story called "The Beautiful Inkberry Tree" here. Towards the end it tells why the inkberry was used as a Christmas tree.

On St. John, in Cruz Bay, one Christmas tradition was that a large inkberry would be set up on the porch of the clinic and decorated. Sometime near Christmas Santa would arrive. All the kids and their parents would be there, Erva and me among them. We'd wait for Santa with the same excited expectation as kids everywhere. We never knew how he was going arrive. Maybe on a donkey or mule or in a jeep or maybe rowed ashore from a boat. But when he showed up we kids were always cheering and calling his name. "Santa, Santa come!"

He wore his red suit, had a white beard and brought with him a great big sack of presents. He was then ushered up onto the porch of clinic where a special chair, next to the inkberry, had been made ready just for him. The presents were taken out of the sack and put under the tree. Once he was settled and we kids had quieted down a bit, carols might be sung and prayers said. Then finally the moment would arrive. An adult would hand him a present and he'd call out a name.

Each and every one of us got some small wrapped gift that had our name on it. Each and every one of us got to go up and get a present straight from Santa's hands.

Afterwards there might be more caroling and things to eat, like sweet cakes, tarts and cookies.
And we kids could actually go talk to Santa if we wanted to.

Waiting for Santa remains one of my fondest memories. There were some wonderful lessons learned. Santa, being Santa, came by whatever means he could just so he could hand out presents. Even if it meant coming by donkey. After all a sleigh and reindeer doesn't make sense in the tropics where there's no snow or chimneys to climb down. I think I knew at a very young age that Santa wasn't a "real" person. I think I knew, without having the words to describe it, that people played the part of Santa because Santa was a feeling, an emotion, a spirit. Consequently it didn't matter what form, color or shape Santa took. That he was a black man wearing a white beard and dressed in a red suit made perfect sense. How could it be otherwise? It was Christmas, a time when miracles happen.

Guavaberry - by Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights - Guavaberry wine is made from soaking guavaberries in the strongest rum you can get then sweetened with a spiced syrup. Just about every family has their own recipe. You can learn alittle bit about guavaberries here. Guavaberry wine is the tradition drink of the holiday season. When people went out caroling, it was expected that the singers would be given a small glass of quavaberry and/or some sweet tarts. As you might imagine, by the time the caroling was over people would be a bit, shall we say, tipsy.

Christmas Trees -The Century Plant Blossom - Part Two

In the islands we have our own traditional Christmas trees. A dried century plant blossom has long been a favorite.

You can see pictures of it here, including one that has been decorated.

Some people spray paint the blossom white or silver or gold. I remember one year at our guest house at Lille Maho my grandmother cut down paper cups and attached them to a century plant blossom she set up at one end of the large porch of the main house. She filled the cups with sugar, attracting a small bird called the bananaquit. Bananaquits LOVE sugar.

They came by the hundreds (or seemed to) bringing with them their noisy, gregarious natures. Never before or since have I seen a Christmas tree with living ornaments.

If you scroll down here, you can see a large number of them clustered around a bird feeder, which will give you an idea of how pretty they looked as Christmas tree ornaments.

Christmas Trees - Part One

When I was a kid growing up in the islands, just about anything could be a Christmas tree, including a grouping of seafans with ornaments hanging off them.

Mostly we had artificial trees because by the time real fir trees reached us from their cool northern climes they were already turning brown and dropping needles all over the place. Nowadays they arrive in refrigerated containers and look just as good as the ones available in the states. However, they are quite expensive.

We most always had an artificial tree. For many years we had an aluminium one. It was small, about three feet. It sat on top of our side-board, so there was plenty of room for presents to go under it. We strung lights on it. My father, the master electrician/electronics engineer never said anything about not stringing lights on it. I hear now that you're not suppose to because of the possibility of getting shocked. My father would never have endangered us, so I wonder just how hazardous it is....

The lights we used were small, probably among the first miniature sets ever made. (We're talking somewhere between 1958 and 60.) Each little clear light had its own colored plastic sort of star-shaped cover. All those different colored lights made our little aluminum tree sparkle and shimmer like a multi-faceted jewel. Then when we'd add glass ornaments! It was breath-taking.

Of all the artificial trees we had, that little aluminum one is my all time favorite. I'd love to have another, and I'd probably put lights on it.