The Independence Festival of Jamaica manages to preserve and enhance Jamaica's traditions, individualism, and diversity.
Figure 1: This map illustrates the 14 different parishes (counties) and
the type of land structure. http://www.chilispot.com/Jmap.htm
Abstract
The Independence Festival of Jamaica focuses on the nation's liberty and the individuality of its people. The Jamaica Festival celebrates individualism and the distinctiveness of its people by joining them together and rejoicing. The Jamaica Festival exposes and nurtures the individual talents of the Jamaican people through contests, shows, and displays (www.go-jamaica.com/festival2000/profile.html). Even though there is much emphasis on individuality, it is the individuality that develops the country into a diverse society. It promotes and achieves cultural development in Jamaica, and fosters the growth of cultural activities and talents (www.go-jamaica.com/festival2000/profile.html). The people of Jamaica are accepting of "others" and their ways of living, and this acknowledgement is an advantage towards their culture because it adds more creativity to society, and the culture becomes more integrated.
The Jamaican Festival resembles
that Jamaica declared its independence and that they are no longer
slaves, and it brings out their cultural roots.
Figure
2: Jamaicans participate in street dances for
the Jamaica Festival.
Figure
3:
Introduction
The Independence Festival of Jamaica is a five day island-wide cultural showcase of Jamaican art, music, and drama. The Festival is the celebration of their society's cultural beliefs, origins, and traditions. The Jamaica Festival doesn't focus on giving or receiving gifts, one's own accomplishments, or the nation's superiority over other countires. The Independence Festival of Jamaica manages to preserve and enhance Jamaica's traditions, individualism, and diversity.
Context of Jamaica
The country of Jamaica is located in the Caribbean Sea just south of Cuba. Jamaica's land area covers about 10,831 sq. km, while its coastline makes up about 1,022 km of that area (www.aneki.com/facts/Jamaica.html). Jamaica's capital is Kingston and the country is divided up into fourteen different "parishes" (Kaplan 1976:10) and three counties. As of July 2003, the current population in Jamaica was 2,695,867; the tiny island of Jamaica, comparative in size to Connecticut, holds that many people (www.aneki.com/facts/Jamaica.html). There are a variety of ranges of mountains and hills located on the island, but most of the country is covered by coastal plains and valleys that border an interior plateau. This interior plateau is composed of limestone and is borken up by sharp ridges, twisted valleys, and broad basins. The limestone plateau is a major characteristic of Jamaica's landscape. The plateau is known as a "karst landscape" (Kaplan 1976: 11) because it is an irregular, limestone terrain with sinks, which are underground caverns and streams, steep hills, and caves. The plateau does not contain rivers, only the interior basins of Jamaica have water ways (Kaplan 1976).
The tropical climate of Jamaica is influenced by the differences in elevation and the Northeast trade winds and local breezes. Those two influences help moderate the temperature and climatic conditions (Kaplan 1976). Jamaica's terrain is mostly mountains with a marrow, coastal plain (www.aneki.com/facts/Jamaica.html). Hurricanes are experienced frequently in Jamaica because of its location in the sea, but rainfall varies in the different regions of the country. The rainfall tends to be heavier along the northern coast rather than the southern coast because the north is more in the mountain rain shadow. Although, Jamaica has experienced droughts during the dry season. "There is, however, no true rainy season in the tropical sense," (Kaplan 1976:16). The vegetation pattern plays a key role in the difference between the rainfalls of the north coast and south coast. Jamaica contains wet evergreen and dry deciduous forests, herbaceous swamp and marsh forests, and planted pastures (Kaplan 1976).
Jamaica is marked by substantial differences in race, culture, and accessibility to material rewards in their society. "The people of Jamaica are involved in an economy that tends to reinforce racial and cultural distinctions with material ones," (Kaplan 1976:2). Figure 2 and Figure 3 demonstrate the acceptance of different cultures and race, and the benefits of freedom that Jamaica justifies. In the past, land and slaves were the cheif sources of wealth in Jamaica. After the emancipation of the slaves, the pattern of Jamaica's economy changed. Not only was agriculture a source of wealth, but now Jamaicans worked for wages off the farm land when the leading job sector soon became commerce. People of Jamaica started working in manurfacturing facilities, mining and quarrying facilities, and even foreign exchange facilities. These new opportunities came about after WWII when Jamaica received a degree of representative self-government and declared its independence in 1962 from Great Britain (Kaplan 1976). Although, the British influence still dominates the Jamaican history (Alleyne 2002:191).
Origins of the Independence Festival of Jamaica
Jamaica's history has a record of creative art competitions dating all the way back to 1897. The time period between the 1930s to mid 1950s further established village competitions that included the type of festivities included in the Jamaica Festival today. By the early 1960s, no organizations had set forth a structure that ensure the repetition, growth, and enhancement of "Jamaicanisation". The development came in 1963 when the Independence Festival of Jamaica was initiated (Tortello 2002:np). The Festival was introduced in 1963 by the JLP Govenment, Jamaica Labour Party (www.jlp.org/aboutUS/history/culture.htm). The celebration has become apart of the "cultural calendar" ever since it was initiated (Mordecai 2001:93). Starting on August 1st, and lasting the first whole week of the month, the Jamaica Festival also represents Emancipation Day and Indepence Day of the country (Tortello 2002:np).
Performance
The creation of the Festival has allowed the people of Jamaica to experience opportunity through the application of their talents and creativity. This exposure "maintains, preserves, and develops the country's cultural resources," (Tortello 2002:np). Jamaican's of all ages participate in the Festival to display their artistic creativity and performance. Jamaicans dress up in vibrant, colorful, exotic costumes for certain performances and dances. Floats are designed for the festival to parade around the streets showing off their theme (Tortello 2002:np) In order to participate in the Festival, contestants have to go through a series of evaluations and eliminations serveral months before going to the national finals. The national finals are held during the last two weeks in July, and are taken very seriously considering the winners are showcases of true, artisitc Jamaicans. These "stellar performers" can become famous from exposing themselves at the Festival (Mordecai 2001:93). The major areas that are exhibited in the Festival are: music, dance, literature, speech, fine arts, photography, and culinary arts. Each area is displayed throughout Kingston and can be expressed through street dances, plays concerts, exhibitions, and readings.
The Festival consists of categories that are performed throughout the whole celebration which include: performing arts, literary arts, photography, fine arts, culinary arts, Queen contests, song contests, festival street dance, festival fashions, etc. The performing arts are celebrated through music, traditional folk forms, speech, dance, and drama. The traditional folk forms preserve the historical and social practices that represent the country's ancestors. The speech program provides the opportunity for individuals to experiment with and understand the importance of communication of ideas and feelings to an audience. The drama program is aimed to promote the use of arts as a tool to gain power to one's self and a community. Dance remains one of the primary sources of education through which the mind and spirit can be conveyed, and it is known as one of the most beautiful aspects of the festival. The National Festival Queen contest is when women compete to represent Jamaica by exposing their intelligence, culture awareness, and service for the community. The Festival Street Dance brings together people from all social/ethnic backgrounds to express their culture and learn the other ones being portrayed through dance. Overall, the Jamaican Festival is vibrant and radiant, and full of activities that are designed for everyone to participate in (www.go-jamaica.com/festival2000/products.html).
One category that truly stands out in the festival is the performing arts, which consists of dance, speech, drama, and music (Tortello 2002:np). Music is a key factor in separating Jamaica from other cultures. One of the country's most famous cultural aspect is reggae music, also known as dancehall (www.everytingjamaican.com/jamaica/musichistory.php). This type of music voices the current population's concerns, conflicts, fantasies, and frustrations. Reggae also offers an escape, laughter, and a new outlook towards the country's rough economic condition. Along with reggae music comes dancing, dancing in deep rhythmic vibrations with much energy (www.everytingjamaican.com/jamixes.html). The two hyperlinks included in the artifact section will take you to two website that exemplify different Jamaican reggae artists and samples of their songs.
Artifact
If you click the links provided below, they will take you to a webpage that exhibits Jamaican reggae artists. Each artist will have a song one or two that you can listen to and experience what the Jamaican's most famous cultural aspect is all about.
www.speakjamaican.com/jamixes.html
http://www.units.muohio.edu/ath175/student/petersle/index.html
Interpretation
Prognosis for the Jamaica Festival
The Indepence Festival of Jamaica is celebrated every year and is a national holiday beginning the first week of August. The Festival is still celebrated today, and seems to increase in popularity each year. Each following year the festival seems to increase with participants, and for the 2004 Festival the JCDC has organized over forty events and competitions to accomodate for the participants (Full Slate for Festival '04). The Festival operates under certain themes and for 2004 it was "Good to Go", and it holds people who are top performers (Full Slate for Festival '04).
Conclusion
The Independence Festival of Jamaica provides its people the opportunity to express their individuality through art, music, and drama. The Festival emphasizes the independence of the country and the independence of the people. The celebration reflects Jamaica's acceptance of individualism, and that it is the most important aspect for a culture to integrate and become diverse. The Festival is proof that this country expresses the advantages of human species uniting together through culture, adaptation, variation, communication, and creativity. The Independence Festival of Jamaica has managed to preserve Jamaica's traditions, individualism, and diversity.
Internet References Cited
- http://aneki.com/facts/Jamaica.html
This site has information from the CLA World Factbook that provides general information on Jamaican's geography, citizens, governement, economy, communications, transportation, military.
- http://www.everytingjamaican.com/jamaica/musichistory.php
This site is provided by EverythingJamaica LLC and is hosted by Tele-Connection and provides information on the history of reggae music.
- http://www.go-jamaica.com/festival2000/products.html
This stie was produced by Go-Jamaica and provides information on the company profile, festival products, a national calendar, and a photo album.
- http://www.jlp.org/aboutUS/history/culture.htm
This site was created by the Jamaican Labour Party and provides information on the history of their group.
- http://www.speakjamaican.com/jamixes.html
This site was created by SpeakJamaican.com and provides information on Jamaica music such as reggae
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Tortello, Rebecca
2002, The History of Jamaica Festival. Electronic Document
http://www.Jamaica-gleanor.com/pages/history/story0031.html
This site was produced by Go-Jamaica.com and provides information on the history of the Jamaica festival
Peer-Reviewed References Cited
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Alleyne, Merryn C.
2002 The Construction and Representation of Race and Ethnicity in the Caribbean and the World . Jamaica : University of the West Indies Press.
Dorson, Richard M.
1982 Material Components in Celebration. In Celebration: Studies of Festivity and Ritual . Victor Turner, ed, pp. 33-57. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.
Global News Wire
2004 Full Slate for Festival '04. In Global News Wire: The Gleaner . www.lexis_nexis.com , accessed November 15.
Kaplan, Irving with Howard I. Bluestein, Kathryn Johnston, and David S. McMorris
1976 Area Handbook for Jamaica . Washington D.C. : Library Congress Catagloging.
Mordecai, Martin with Pamela Mordecai
2001 Culture and Customs of Latin America and the Caribbean: Culture and Customs of Jamaica . Westport : Greenwood Press.
Nunley, John W. with Judith Bettelheim
1988 Caribbean Festival Arts: Each and Every Bit of Difference. Seattle: Saint Louis Art Museum in association with University of Washington Press .Turner, Victor and Edith Turner
1982 Religious Celebrations. In Celebration: Studies in Festivity and Ritual . Victor Turner, ed, pp. 201-219. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.