I fell in love with the language of What a Wedd'nby Peggy Rankine. It's about the Jamaican courtship of a girl and a boy in the 1930s before the country's independence from England.
Ms. Rankine said she wrote to "preserve the Jamaican flavor." Listen to the girls and women talk by the river on washing day.
"Gi' me 'tory gal!"
(Give me a story girl.)
"Pop 'tory a me ears!"
(Tell me a story in my ears!)
They have plenty to talk about since a boy has just asked a girl's father if he can "fren" his daughter. (friend, or court) The father says okay but "Listen carefully, these are the rules:
"No hanging around my house after sunset,
No hugging and kissing in public,
No standing in the roadside with Ambro, Show her all the respect,
You can visit her on Sunday evenings before night service,
Don't give her any money or anything, we can maintain her."
Ms. Rankine recreates a culture of courtship and of the Jamaica of her youth with wonderful details (the wedding cake calls for "1 lb sugar, 1 lb butter, 1 lb. flour, 1 lb raisins, 1 lb. currants, 1 doz. eggs, 1 pint wine or rum") and love.
Illustration above by Mr. Paul Clayton is of younger sister Lucy who delivers a secret love letter from the boy to the girl.
No hugging and kissing in public,
No standing in the roadside with Ambro, Show her all the respect,
You can visit her on Sunday evenings before night service,
Don't give her any money or anything, we can maintain her."
Ms. Rankine recreates a culture of courtship and of the Jamaica of her youth with wonderful details (the wedding cake calls for "1 lb sugar, 1 lb butter, 1 lb. flour, 1 lb raisins, 1 lb. currants, 1 doz. eggs, 1 pint wine or rum") and love.
Illustration above by Mr. Paul Clayton is of younger sister Lucy who delivers a secret love letter from the boy to the girl.
You can order What a Weddin' from Johanna Young, jsoulnh@gmail.com
You can order many other books about Jamaica through Arawak Publications.
Before we were engaged, my fiance gave me a copy of his mom's book, an indirect marriage proposal, I think. It helped to seal the deal.
ReplyDeleteReading and rereading mummy's books make me hungry for Jamaica - hungry for searching for the ackee stands on the road, eating pepper shrimp and feasting on salmon creamed with coconut milk for breakfast. Comparing the yields of fruit trees with neighbors and friends and coming back from a visit to old friends with bunches and bunches of green bananas.
Sharing the riches of the earth.
Before we were engaged, my fiance gave me a copy of his mom's book, an indirect marriage proposal, I think. It helped to seal the deal.
ReplyDeleteReading and rereading mummy's books make me hungry for Jamaica - hungry for searching for the ackee stands on the road, eating pepper shrimp and feasting on salmon creamed with coconut milk for breakfast. Comparing the yields of fruit trees with neighbors and friends and coming back from a visit to old friends with bunches and bunches of green bananas.
Sharing the riches of the earth.
Thank you, Solarjo. I know you are the daughter-in-law of the author of What a Weddin'.
ReplyDeleteI am hungry to taste these foods!