Driver playing parang music - had me thinking?

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ЩГџО±В©В© РЅв€‚вЃї@в„“ЩР·Neв™Ґ

EY! Christmas in Trinidad na easy yuh know! I remever we used to be watin fuh de blasted floor to dry even on christmas day it still wet. And we never used to cook de black cake, we used to buy it na. So das about a $80 right there. But besides dat, is parang all day and me, meh sister, and meh cousins beating bottle and drum and ting to de parang tunes. It used to be reaalll fun. Calallooooooo, Pilauuuu, Rotiiii, anyting...once it spicy and it taste GOOD. Trini ppl never used to ova do it wit de lights doh. Is only when i come up here in Long Island and ah see how de ppl lightin every leaf on the damn trees! We only had de railings lit. And we used to reuse dem every year! I could go on forever about dis Christmas. But meh grandmother always remind me that de prayer was important too. We ca celebrate without doing a prayer and givin thanks. Remember de songs that used to be playin on de T.V.?

"Christmas mornin when ah wake,
Aye Aye Aye
Ah see de kitchen start to bake
Oye Oye Oye
Ah see de sunrise in meh husband
Oye Oye Oye...
Is Christmas mornin Ayeyeye Oyeoyeoye
Christmas mornin Ayeyeye Oyeoyeoye!"

"Ah want a piece a pork,
Ah want a piece a pork
Ah want a piece a pork fuh meh Christmas.
Ah doh want no BBQ,
Keep yuh calalloo,
Ah want a piece a pork fuh meh christmas."

"Look meh belly in meh hand
Neighbout gimme piece a ham.
Neighbour Oyeoyeoye,
Bring out de ham!
Neighbout Ayeyeyeyeye!
Bring out de ham!
cuz ah want someting to eat,
bring out de ham
Neighbout gimme a piece a meat!
bring out de ham"

All dem tunes used to be playin plus parang. Now parang, i used to sing in school. but de ting is, we never knew what de *** we was singing. but i used to enjoy it doh.
We didn't even have a christmas tree!
But we used to make creshes and ting, with baby Jesus and Mary, we used to be reeeaaaaalllll mashin dong de place!

Chara

Girl nice question.It have Christmas sale going on in some stores in Sando.

Anyways my family Christmas tradition is as follows:

*Hang your curtains at exactly 11o'clock on Christmas eve.
*Bake ham,cake,sweetbread and white/milk bread,fruitcake,blackcake on Christmas eve.
*Final touches to the homemade wine done on the night of Christmas eve.

On Christmas day:
*Have Christmas morning thanks giving
*Eat ham and homemade bread with grate cocoa tea [yuh no d type that you have to grate in de pot and boil it but my mom makes it herself from cocoa pods. Yummy!!!
*Go to my grandfather who is Venezualan for Christmas lunch where de ENTIRE clan comes and brings marac[chac-chac],cuatro[sp],mandolins,gu... and ole iron in any form and fashion.

Girl when all dem Spanish get together and they start to Parang so ohlala ah does wish Christmas dont end.

And we Boxing Day tradition:
*Yam,eddoes,cassava,greenfig,plaintain... all boiled
*Yuh eating it with wild meat.Yeah my daddy hunts and both my grandpas, so it does have every year for the ENTIRE clan.
*Plus they kill a pig and bar-b-que half of it and stew de nex half and sometimes that doesnt be enough.

And gyul we does do this EVERY YEAR. All the cousins,aunts,uncles even dholarie and she husband does do it.

Chef D

My favorite memory of christmas is when I was about 9 yrs old, my parents and older siblings with the help of the younger ones off course, was cleaning and doing the painting, cooking the ham , baking sweetbread, black cake,, homemade bread you know the works.. Around 10pm, we will take a bath/shower and get into our new night clothes, we got new sleeping clothes every christmas as my parents wanted us to wake up christmas morning with our new nighties on to open presents, and you know christmas time we kids do not like sleeping as we trying to stay awake to see Santa, but anyway I went to sleep for about 3 hours and woke up around 4a.m and I saw my dad putting the presents under the christmas tree, I went back into the bedroom and woke up my siblings and told them that they will not believe who Santa is, with that said, I guess I fell back to sleep, woke up again around 7am, and I rushed outside and went next door to my friends house and we got a few more friends and your girl was boasting and all.. I told everyone that my Dad was Santa Claus , all the kids in the village believed it and everyone treated me like loyalty on that day , that was a good christmas memory for me.

But now my Present Family tradition, I still make my black cake and all the christmas drinks, but all is done about 2 days before christmas..
On the morning of christmas, we all wake up, I make warm apple cyder and everyone will go into the great room, we have a special room for family gatherings and it's called the great room..lol.. The kids will each take turns and talk about the past year and how they felt and their goals for the next year, we will sing christmas carols, parang music ,calypso and hard rock as my hubby likes rock music, one person will start handing out presents, after all presents are opened, the great room is a big mess, we then have a big breakfast with the homemade bread, ham, chow chow, eggs, cheeses and a few other things, we then go into the den and watch old family movies and around 1pm, we all take showers get dressed and just do our own thing until dinner time.. No one is allowed to leave the house on christmas day nor no one comes over.. But the day after christmas my house is packed with relatives and friends and everyone stays until the new year.. But sadly that may not happen this year, the insurance people is taking too long and I will not be able to rebuild in time to have my christmas.. but on the brighter side of things, we will all be going to Trinidad for christmas, I haven't enjoyed a trini christmas in a long time. I can't wait.

Gibbsy girl

Believe it or not, my favorite Christmas memory is having a bath on Christmas Eve night. LOL. After cleaning literally WHOLE day that bath felt sooooo good. It was like you got new skin!! Every year we always had new night gowns to put on. Fancy, frilly, things with matching robes. I loved that!! It just always made me feel so girly. When you come out all dressed up in your new "nightie" and you're sitting at the table eating ham and sweet bread for dinner, everything around you clean and shiny, you know its Christmas. :-)

c w

I love a trini christmas. the parang filling the air, the new curtains that your mother now done sew and hang. the ham boiling on the fireside, pastelles making. the black cake baking in the oven. the wine passing and even the small ones getting a little sip!! Ginger beer, sorrel and puncha creme going down sweet the family all getting along and working together. that is a true trini christmas, no doubt, you making me feel to go trinidad this year for christmas!!

Izzy B

Christmas for real - there are some stores here that already put out their christmas stock - I really don't understand why. It's not even on sale!

For me it's painting and putting up new curtains...every flipping year we sewing new curtains...why? How many curtains does one household need? But it's not Christmas without it oui!

And the smell of fresh baked bread to go along with some salty ham..yum yum...no matter what I always try to go home for Christmas..nuttin like a trini Christmas

juicyp

oh gosh girl yuh bringing back memories man! Chow chow is ah mus on meh ham! Dat is my favourite tradition..christmas lunch with all d pastelles and especially stuffing oh gosh das ting to make man bawl! I love listening to marcia miranda songs and parang to buh ah not ah big fan of playing it out loud..lol...ah shame!

dredz

I remember making pastelle with fig leaf the traditional way with olivers and capers and roucou. I also rememeber and we still do it pick in a name in the family and buy or make a special gift reflecting your feelings for that person.

I think my favourite is black cake with fruits that soaking since last christmas, nothing, nothing can beat that.

Last but not least the general atmosphere, the smells coming out of the kitchens, people's behaviour, the smell of paint, everyone helping, the music and the excitement.

StevieV

My favourite Christmas memory is FINALLY praying over the table full of food that my mother and grandmother spent hours cooking. Of course, by then, yuh eye bigger dan yuh belly and ah eat 2 bites and full. Can't say I have a favourite Christmas food. I love them all. Pastelle, turkey, ham, fry rice, callalloo, coo coo, pidgeon peas.... mmmmmmm. And of course, top it all off with some sorrell to drink!

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