Two Signals bring out the Spirit of Christmas

If I were home in the United States, this would be an outrage. The police would be here in no time flat. People would be fleeing to their cars. Those under age twenty-one would go into hiding. And, yes, there would be arrests made. Neighbors would be standing on the sidewalk applauding the police.

There are two signals that get Saint Lucian’s in the spirit of Christmas. It was December 12, the day before National Day which kicks the Christmas Season. It’s the first signal. According to internet sources National Day is a day of pride that is celebrated with sporting, cultural, religious and social events taking place in various locations throughout St Lucia. Events include a lantern-making competition, choir festivals and musical performances. It is a national holiday.

My village’s version of National Day is very different. Thursday night, the day before National Day, I heard familiar tunes: It Ain’t Me Babe, Yesterday, and various other songs of the sixties. These are songs I still enjoy hearing – but these familiar songs were strangely unfamiliar. As a matter of fact, I had to listen carefully to identify the songs. The music was oddly distorted as if someone was creating a parody. My village kicked off National Day with a Karaoke Street Party that went on until three in the morning.

After a sleepless night, I woke early because I needed to be in Castries by eleven. I didn’t get home until seven in the evening. It had been a long day. Earlier I delivered a teaching demo at Monroe College to demonstrate my teaching style. It was successful and I will be volunteering as an instructor at the college beginning in January.

I got off the bus and as I walked home I approached the scene of last night’s party, the scene of the crime. There were new clues. The old broken refrigerator was placed on its back and a man was pouring ice into its belly, while another was stuffing Piton’s into the ice to chill. Coals were heating in a large BBQ Barrel. The man next door, who owns the meat market, was bringing packages of meat to cook.

Then I saw them – they were larger than life. They were squared and black and there weren’t just two; no, there were eight of them. They looked like the devil. Four of them were directly facing the direction of my apartment which was only two hundred feet away. I began putting the clue pieces of this new puzzle together. Clearly, last nights crime scene was turning into tonight’s newest caper. Nothing gets past me.

I was sleeping when it began. It was 10:00 in the evening when I heard the first ba-boom ba-boom rumbling from the big black beasts pointed at my apartment. Disoriented, I hurled out of bed. I was sure someone had set up a band in my living room, but there was no one. I went into the kitchen, and it too was empty. I ran to the spare bedroom and there was no band there. This street party ended at seven the next morning.

The second signal that brings out the old Christmas spirit is the weather. I was at a birthday party a few days later. Everyone was commenting that it finally felt like Christmas because the weather “turned”. Turned? Really? Well, I guess so. The temperature is now 84 degrees, the low 80’s…whereas it’s been 86 degrees– upwards of 90 degrees.

Ah, Christmas in Saint Lucia…you just have to love it.