Christmas in
The West Indies
"Merry Christmas"
The West Indies is made up of lots of islands and so there are lots of different cultures. In the cities people stick to their family traditions but in the more rural areas men kill animals, such as pigs or goats, and have what ever they have killed for Christmas dinner out of doors after church.
In Jamaica and the Bahamas there is a very exciting festival called John Canoe or Jonkunnu. It is a festival where people dress up and dance in the street. The Jonkunnu festival can be tracked back at least 200 years ago.
In Trinidad and Tobago they celebrate their Christmas by playing parang music and dancing. Parang is a Spanish word meaning to "stop at someone's house". The musicians move from house to house playing their stringed instruments.
