the Dignity

Portrait of Gaye McDonald, a Jamaican model.

JAMAICA PAST

Jamaican vixen standing in the waters of Blue Lagoon, Port Antonio.

This is a vision of a part of the aftermath of the brutality of the British's enslavement of West African men, women and children and the slaughter of the indigenous people of the island of Jamaica. I think about these things. One should never lose sight, or memory of these things because (for one reason) those spirits have gone nowhere distant from the present.

It all makes me wonder how the Jamaican proverb: "Mi tro mi corn, but mi no call no fowl!" fits into this scheme of thinking present throughout the African Diaspora! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [June 07, 2017]

Open Air for Markets

Jamaican life before the 1900's - the marketplace.

I miss the open markets. It stirs and maintains the life of the food this way of selling food. Grocery stores are not like that. The buildings, the setting without social exchange lessens the potency of food diminishing the essential quality food, and food preparation needs more than anything else. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5.11.16

Jamaican life before the 1900's - the marketplace.

 

JACK'S RIDDLE

Jack's Riddle – Jamaica

Clarence Tathum, Mandeville.

A little boy once heard of a king's daughter who would answer any riddle, and so he told his mother that he was going to ask the king's daughter a riddle. Whatever riddle the king's daughter asks him, if he can't answer, the king's daughter will kill him; or else, he will get the king's daughter. And the mother made some dumpling and gave to him, made six, poisoned one. And he eat four and gave two to the donkey he was riding, and one of those two was the one that was poisoned. So "Poor Lo" died. So seven John-crow came to eat Poor Lo; so while the seven John-crow were eating Poor Lo, they were dying one after another by the poison of Poor Lo. And he saw an orange-tree with one ripe orange on it, and he went and picked it and eat it, and he picked up one under the tree and eat it. And Jack went to the king's daughter, and she asked him the riddle; and after he answered it, he asked her this one:

"Two kill one and one kill seven; the top of the tree was sweet, but the bottom was sweeter yet."


See Grimm 22, The Riddle, Bolte u. Polívka 1:188-202 and compare Barker, 171-175; Fortier, 62-69; Recinos, JAFL 31: 475-476.

Jamaica Anansi Stories ,Martha Warren Beckwith, New York, Published By The American Folk-Lore Society, G. E. Stechert & Co., Agents. [1924] and is now in the public domain.

Before 1900



Jamaican life before the 1900's - the African influence.

The African influence is noticeable. The British style of slavery was one we could call a system based upon speed, economy of space and disposable commodities (people). African retention is a marvel wherever it shows itself. It is the how it was done in the chaos and terror of being bustled about as property while trying to maintain sanity, focus and the drive to live as you knew you were meant to. Being in an unstable environment far from home created mentalities lost to succeeding generations, but the impact, though lessened somewhat over time, is a presence upon the land. Thus, an explanation of how Africa is transported from one life to another, one generation to another and one era to another!
Perhaps.

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
May 11, 2016




Jamaican life before the 1900's - washing clothes.

 

The Rescue

Man-Snake as Bridegroom

Der is a woman to court. Every man come to court her, she said she don' want him, till one day she saw a coal-black man, pretty man. 'he said, "O mudder, dis is my courtier!" She tek de man. Breakfas' an' dinner de man don' eat, only suck couple raw egg. So her got a brudder name of Collin. She didn't count de brudder. De brudder tell her, said, "Sister, dat man you gwine to marry to, it is a snake." She said, "Boy, you eber hear snake kyan tu'n a man?" Collin said, "All right! De day you are married, me wi' be in de bush shootin' me bird."

So de weddin' day when de marry ober, de man took his wife, all his weddin' garment, he borrow everyt'ing; so him gwine home, everywhere him go all doze t'ing him borrow, him shed dem off one by one till de las' house he tek off de las' piece an',de Bogie! He walk wid his wife into de wood an' to a cave. He put down his wife to sit down. He tu'n a yellow snake an' sit down in his wife lap an' have his head p'int to her nose to suck her blood to kill her. An de woman sing,

"Collin now, Collin now,
Fe me li'l brudder callin' come o!"


De Snake said,


"Um hum, hum he,
A han'some man you want,
A han'some man wi' kill you."


De woman sing again,


"Collin now, Collin now,
Fe me li'l brudder callin' come o!"


De Snake say,


"Um hum, hum he,
Deh han'some man,
Deh han'some man wi' kill you."


Collin said, "Wonder who singin' me name in dis middle wood?" an' he walk fas' wid his gun. When he come to de cave, de snake-head jus' gwine to touch de woman nose. An' Collin shoot him wid de gun an' tek out his sister. So she never count her brudder till her brudder save her life.



[There are many people, male and female, who make decisions based on the illusions they live by, the assumptions they justify irrational behavior with, and the things they deny. Marriages built upon these things stagger sensibility in the end. But, none of that matters. People love this mess. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 10.21.15]

Jamaican tourism

I remember rejoicing with this picture. Jamacia was blazed across her full breasts snug in a red wet form fitting t-shirt. Her hair slick and thick with water fell away from her forehead letting sunlight bake her beauty bronze. I never knew what she was selling, but I got the idea, and bought the product!
- Gregory E. Woods
Keeper of Stories
August 15, 2012

AFRICAN WOMEN WARRIORS

The female skeletal system is less dense, and more prone to breakages. There was also concern that, in aviation, the female body is not as adept at handling the increased g-forces experienced by combat pilots; in fact, there is now evidence that the male body is less able to handle the g-forces than the female body: women are less likely to black out due to shorter blood vessel routes in the neck.

Furthermore, health issues regarding women are argued as the reason that the some submarine services avoid accepting women, although mixed-gender accommodations in a small space is also an issue, as is explained in more depth below.The traditionalist Center for Military Readiness stated that “Female soldiers [are], on average, shorter and smaller than men, with 45-50% less upper body strength and 25-30% less aerobic capacity, which is essential for endurance”.

African woman's face

African Warrior Women

According to Greek accounts, the earliest Amazons came from Libya (then a name for most of North Africa). They wore red leather and carried crescent-shaped shields. It was these Libyan Amazons, they said, who later founded cities and temples in the Aegean and Anatolia. 

At a much later period, the Amazons of Dahomey were crack all-female troops, all female, who also served as royal bodyguards. They were also priestesses and wore crescent moon crowns.

The Hausa had a number of warrior queens, notably Amina of Zau Zau. A woman named Bazao-Turunku led warriors and founded a town south of Zaria. 

Nupe women warriors called Isadshi-Koseshi fought as fiercely as the men, opposing invasions of the Fulbe conquerers who raided the Nupe for cattles and slaves, especially women.


JAMAICA

Nyabinghi, the "hidden queen" fought to free Africans from English slavery and rule. Also called Queen Muhmusa or Tahtahme, she inspired the Nyabinghi underpinnings of Rastafarianism. 

Nanny of the Maroons was born in Ghana, and folk history says that she came to Jamaica with the express purpose of becoming a high priestess and leader of her people, never having been a slave. She was an obeah-woman who led the eastern Maroons based in Moreton, and forged an alliance with another group led by Cudjoe. (The name Maroons comes from the Spanish cimarron,meaning "gone back to the wild.") 

The Jamaican Maroons were the first people to force the English to sign a treaty with their subjects, on March 1, 1738. The lands conceded in this treaty formed a base for the Maroon's independent survival. One of these communities was named Nannytown after the female Ghanaian leader. Maroon country was so feared by the English that it became known as the "Land of Look-Behind."

African woman's black

WOMEN BEAT BACK SLAVECATCHERS

In the summer of 1848, eight or ten people made it across the Ohio river in their northward flight from slavery. The slave catchers tracked them into town, but the bounty they were after turned out to be elusive: 

"The women began to gather from adjoining houses until the Amazons were about equal to the [slave-hunters]-- the former with shovels, tongs, washboards and rolling pins; the latter with revolvers, sword-canes and bowie-knives. Finally the beseigers decamped, leaving the Amazons in possession of the field, amid the jeers and loud huzzahs of the crowd." 

GHANA

"If you the men of Ashanti will not go forward, then we will. We the women will. I shall call upon you my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight until the last of us falls in the battlefield." 

---Ya Asantewa, an Ashanti queen who led the resistence to British colonial rule in Ghana. She succeeded in the short run, but the Ashanti were heavily outgunned.

THE "WAR OF THE WOMEN"

The Aba rebellion in southeastern Nigeria grew out of a traditional female rite of the Igbo. People were outraged at the colonial government's plan to tax women, "the trees that bear fruit." In protest, Ibo women bound their heads with ferns, painted their faces with ash, put on loincloths and carried sacred sticks with palm frond wreaths. Thousands marched on the District Office, dancing, singing protests, and demanding the cap of office of the colonial chief Okugo. When he approached one woman to count her goats and sheep, she had retorted, "Was mother counted?"

This protest spread into a vast regional insurrection. The Ibo women's councils mobilized demonstrations in three provinces, turning out over 2,000,000 protesters. The British District Officer at Bende wrote, "The trouble spread in the 2nd week of December to Aba, an important trading center on the railway. Here there converged some 10,000 women, scantily clothed, girdled with green leaves, carrying sticks. Singing angry songs against the chiefs and the court messengers, the women proceeded to attack and loot the European trading shops, stores, and Barclay's Bank, and to break into the prison and release the prisoners."

Elsewhere women protestors burned down the hated British "Native Courts" and cut telegraph wires, throwing officials into panic. The colonials fired on the female protesters, killing more than fifty and wounding more. Marches continued sporadically into 1930. These mass actions became known as the Aba Rebellion of 1929, or The War of the Women. It was one of the most significant anti-colonial revolts in Africa of that day. 

Diola women led similar protests against French attempts to exact a tribute from their rice harvest in Senegal, an event dramatized by filmmaker Ousmane Sembene. 

If you want to know who I am 
I am daughter of Angola, of Kêto and Nagô 
I don't fear blows because I am a warrior 
Inside of samba I was born 
I raised myself, I transformed myself, and 
no one will lower my banner, O, O, O. 
I am a warrior woman daughter of Ogun and Yansâ 

art of healing

Rain Queens of the Lovedu

Dzugudini, a grand-daughter of "the famous ruler Monomatapa," was the founding Rain Queen of the Lovedu. Her royal father was angry that she bore a child out of wedlock. Oral tradition says her mother taught her the art of rain-making and gave her rain charms and sacred beads. Then she fled south with some supporters. They settled peacefully among the Sotho. In the early 1800s, a leadership crisis was resolved by accession of the first Mujaji, a Rain Queen with both political and ceremonial power. Chiefs presented her with wives. She had no military, but even the Zulu king Shaka paid her tribute because of her rain power. Her successors have less authority, but still preside over womanhood initiations and other important rituals. 

SWAZI
The queen is called by honorific titles such as "Mother of the Country" and Indlovukati, "Lady Elephant." She is a powerful rain maker, guardian of the royal clan's sacred objects, and addresses the ancestors on behalf of the Swazi nation. She has the power to give sanctuary to persons condemned by the king's court. Her village is the capital of the country, where troops are quartered. 

HAUSA
Many powerful queens are remembered in Hausa tradition. Among the Kotoko, the Gumsu was the female heir of the land, associated with the morning star, mother of all stars. She lived in the southern part of the palace and performed functions associated with the south, was the head of the country's women and played a leading part in the seven year rites for its welfare. The Kotoko government was based on a delicate balance of male/female, right/left, north/south. Among the Kanuri, the Gumsu retained her authority in Muslim times. Diwan records recount that the Gumsu Fasama became angry at her son, Sultan Biri ibn Dunama, for executing a thief, rather than cutting off his hands as the Koran decreed. "Accordingly his mother put Biri in prison, and he submitted to the punishment for a whole year.

BLACK ACHIEVEMENT: a British singer

black beauty of Keisha Buchanan

"Singer Keisha Buchanan colors the landscape, and musicscape of the international stage as a British singer and member of the band Sugababes. Her family is from Jamaica and she's cousin with Simon Webbe, former member of Blue. Great claims to fame, but my biggest concern about young artists is the claim to be artists without the commitment growing each year to deepen themselves with the ancestry of their craft." ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

BLACK ACHIEVEMENT: pride, history & Keisha Buchanan

black beauty of Keisha Buchanan in pink blouse & floral shorts !!!!

I listen to the dribble of fashion critics on television the same way I listen to the squabbles of teenage girls in public: critically. The little girls are cute and innocent of the hardness of the women they are modeling, but doing damage nonetheless to someone’s self-esteem. After millieniums of being culturally reprehensible gossips in Western cultures have gained a foothold of legitmacy not because they generate good will, can be mistaken for importance, or have credibility! They have enjoyed decades of generosity from the public because they direct viewers, and readers away from the depth of their times, and away from the fundamental questions that need addressing into the folds of the magical world of advertistments, and consumption. Gossips get people to buy things they don’t need, and focused away from the essentials of community building, maturation, intellectual enforcement of standards, and deep spirituality.

The fisherman’s lure tricked countless fish to the surface despite the tales told by their ancestors, and parents. Despite the echos of fish in agony with sharp hooks in their mouths reverbating around the sphere of Earth’s waterways fish are caught by the lure of fishermen. There is an art to it, and the art is the enticement of instant gratification, and the easy exercising of the least amount of creativity, analytical capabilities, and the lack of the need to employ a kind heart. Gossips find relief knowing they can be cruel and invisible at the same time to someone who has achieved in their life. They like the energies they conjure up that downcast the upright and people who have ascended beyond the mundane.

The critics ripped this little girl, the British singer Keisha Buchanan to shreds over her shorts and blouse because it made her hips look bigger and out of proportion. They went further into insult, and envy declaring she did not know how to dress appropriately for her body type which is African!

Four and five centuries ago European women were envious, scared, and competing against African women in the dark continent they would never meet. Their men were coming home sexually aroused, and permanently changed by the bodies of naked Black women built from a celestial design, a prototype, a creation story that fashioned, birthed, and shaped world cultures. What a journey white women have taken in fashion from the oversized gowns with hoops to mimic the wide African women’s hips, and huge rear ends to the half-fed bodies of pale women prancing with the pretense of the grace and form of African women whose walks came from balancing babies on their backs, and loads atop their heads as they walked bare foot, or sandaled upon uneven terrain.

©Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories