*Throwback* Celebrating the Holidays in the Caribbean

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Celebrate the holidays with us with a throwback episode as we open a window onto a season where streets become stages, kitchens turn into archives, and every drumbeat and carol carries a story. From the clatter of cowbells in Nassau to the smoky crackle of a roast pig on Christmas Eve, the region’s holidays reveal how history lives in sound, taste, and togetherness. We start with the pulse of festival culture: Junkanoo’s lavish costumes and goatskin drums marching down Bay Street in the Bahamas, and the Boxing Day launches in the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, Belize, and Montserrat. Each celebration stitches heritage to the present—months of planning, bursts of creativity, and a shared promise to meet at dawn. Then we head to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where Nine Mornings wakes neighborhoods at 4 a.m. with concerts and games, culminating in a joyful jump up that proves community thrives when people gather before sunrise.

Our journey continues into homes and churches. In Suriname, Godo Pa—Dearest Daddy—arrives on December 6 with gifts and poems, a post-independence figure who replaces Old World icons with a reflection of local identity. Across the Spanish Caribbean, Noche Buena brings families to the table for lechón, yuca, and music that lasts late into Christmas Eve, while Three Kings Day keeps the season open into January as children leave grass and water for the camels and wake to gifts beneath the bed. These customs hold the region’s layered past while nurturing the joy that keeps people close. No Caribbean holiday is complete without music. Parang bands roam neighborhoods in Grenada, and parang-soca lights up Trinidad and Tobago with door-to-door harmonies. We share favorites—from Scrunter’s Christmas classics and Bindley B’s celebratory anthems to Carlene Davis’s reggae carols—curating a playlist that can transform a winter commute into a warm-weather fête. By the end, you’ll hear how a festival becomes a bridge, how a song becomes a keepsake, and how a meal becomes a map back home.

Press play, share your family tradition, and tell us the holiday song you return to every year. If this tour of Caribbean celebrations moved you, follow, rate, and leave a review to help others find the show.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean
history and culture, hosted byme, Alexandria Miller.
Strictly Facts teaches thehistory, politics, and activism
of the Caribbean and connectsthese themes to contemporary
music and popular culture.

(00:25):
As the year swiftly comes to aclose, we couldn't break for the
holidays without first talkingabout some of our favorite
Caribbean holiday traditions.
If it's one thing about us withfestive bud, and while we differ
in some of the ways wecelebrate, family, food, and fun
always bring us together.
There are a few thingssynonymous with the Caribbean,

(00:47):
and one of those is, of course,festival culture.
As we talked about in an earlierepisode, there are some nuances
between Caribbean carnivals,some of which are held during
Lent, like in Trinidad, whileothers are held during the end
of the harvest season, like CropOver in Barbados.
A similar festival, Junkanoo, isheld in the Bahamas as well as

(01:09):
in a few other Caribbean islandsand in the Caribbean diaspora in
places like Florida and theCarolinas with heavy Caribbean
descendants.
Junkanoo parades are celebratedduring various times throughout
the years, like to commemorateIndependence Day, and especially
during the beginning of theholidays on Boxing Day, the day

(01:30):
after Christmas through NewYear's Day.
Taking to the streets withlavish costumes planned months
in advance, cowbells andgoatskin drums, the largest
December junkanoo takes place onBay Street in the capital,
Nassau.
Similar celebrations also takeplace in the U.S.
Virgin Islands, with the CrucianChristmas Festival, or in St.

(01:52):
Kitts and Nevis, where theirnational carnivals begin on
Boxing Day as well, or inBelize, with junkanoo drummers
and dancers performing atChristmas, or in Montserrat,
where their festival laststhrough December and into early
January, with Caroling and evena Soka Monarch competition.
A similar series of celebrationsare held in St.

(02:13):
Vincent and the Grenadines, whorejoice in the Nine Mornings
Festival.
For nine days leading up toChristmas, the town comes alive
at 4 a.m.
with concerts, games, andcultural performances, and even
Seal Bend jump up to close theannual tradition.
On the other hand, Suriname'sChristmas celebrations begin

(02:33):
similarly in early December withGodo Pa or Dearest Daddy, who's
said to leave presents and poemsfor children next to their shoes
on December 6th.
Following Suriname'sindependence in the 1970s,
Dearest Daddy replaced thefigure of Saint Nicholas as a
sort of black Santa Claus, whochildren leave Christmas,

(02:54):
cookies, and milk for annually.
Noche Buena is another popularcelebration in parts of the
Spanish Caribbean, like in Cuba,Diar, and Puerto Rico, and even
parts of Curacao heavilyinfluenced by Venezuela.
Translated to mean the goodnight, this large feast takes
place on Christmas Eve, and atthe center of Noche Buena is a

(03:16):
whole pig often roasted in alarge box over coals.
This roasted pig tradition issaid to date back to the 15th
century when colonists huntedand ate roasted pigs with big
flames.
A number of Spanish and FrenchCaribbean islands also celebrate
Three Kings Day, the arrival ofthe three wise men.
Usually celebrated on January6th, the Día de los Tres Reyes

(03:39):
Puerto Rican children leavegrass and hay and even water
under their beds for the threekings' camels.
The kings are said to feed thecamels and leave gifts under the
children's bed as a reward.
And of course, what would thecare be and be without our
music?
Caroling in concerts are popularthroughout the holidays, with,
for instance, the Karakou PerangFestival taking place in

(04:03):
Grenada, with parangbangsplaying carols throughout the
neighborhoods, as well as inTrinidad and Tobago, where soap
and Christmas music combine tomake parangsoka, with carols
going door to door singingpopular Christmas songs.
And on that note, what could astrictly facts episode be if we
didn't share some of the bestholiday songs?

(04:25):
Enjoy some parangsoka, now witha little throwback to training
musician Skunkter, whose givenname is Erwin Reyes Johnson and
his famous, famous Christmastunes.
His first 1988 piece of porksings of his excitement of the
Christmas season and all of theChristmas foods he's waiting to
enjoy.

(04:45):
Also listen to Play a PeringSoka by Bindley B, who echoes
all the joy in celebration ofthe Christmas season.
And if you'd like some Christmassongs with a reggae twist,
artist Carleen Davis has a wholealbum full entitled Christmas
Reggae Rock.
She also has a rendition ofSanta Claus Do You Ever Come to
the Ghetto, which has beencovered by artists like Yellow

(05:08):
Man and Chronics, and mostrecently a re-released version
with herself alongside herdaughter, singer Naomi Cohen.
There's so many traditions toname that we all couldn't get to
them, but do let us know how youand your family celebrate
Christmas.
Send us a message on Twitter,Instagram, or even Facebook.
We barely got into food, so staytuned for our last episode of

(05:30):
the year where we'll be talkingabout some of our favorite
Caribbean holiday cuisines.
Check our links on our website,and we hope you enjoyed
listening.
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Thanks for tuning in to StrictlyFacts.
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(05:52):
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