The Caribbean Cultural Center Offers Fun, Relaxation, and Enlightenment in One Beautiful Tropical Setting
Help Make This Dream Come True - Click Here For The Theme Park Proposal

To Play Music associated with this page

Come to the Jamaican village which represents the third largest island in the Caribbean. Our friends will introduce you to the jerk (a barbecued hog since we presume you left the other one at home), the boisterous culture of reggae and Rastafarian, and a sugar plantation. Like our own sugar plantation, all sorts of plantations, coffee, banana, tobacco, pineapple, sugar, etc. used cheap labor. Historically speaking, then, one cannot describe the Caribbean past without addressing slavery

At the Jamaican sugar plantation, we'll introduce you to slaves who will relate the hardships they endured. They faced terror back in their native Africa when raiding parties would kidnap villagers in the middle of the night. They suffered the atrocities of the Atlantic crossing in the notorious slave ship only to be auctioned like cattle when they disembarked. Then on the plantations, they worked hard and long hours at the call and beckon of their European taskmaster.  If they were lucky to survive the voyage, life held no promise in the new world where many were separated from family.

 The slaves around the village will elaborate on a typical day. It consisted of a sixteen to eighteen hour day in the field where they dug, planted, or picked the crops. Or, if they were lucky, they toiled inside the master household preparing meals and doing other kinds of domestic work. They may also relate to you what happened when they displeased their master or even worse, when they were recaptured after having run away. Their life was full of hardship and empty of hope.

He or she will also knows the maroons who were a community of runaways. They lived high in the inaccessible Jamaican interior mountains. In their hideaways, maroons introduced Jerk, a special way of cooking hog, chicken, sausages, pork or fish. Originally the wild hog was cooked slowly in a barbecue sunk into the ground. This distinctive style of cooking combines meat and spices such as peppers, cinnamon, pimento, and nutmeg. Go ahead and try some when you have a chance.

Our Jamaicans will share with you their culture: story telling, dance, music, and religious practices. Music played a large part in the plantation life and we are sure you will enjoy the current Jamaican Reggae. Religion also was affected by the mixture of European and African culture. Modern day Rastafarianism is itself a combination of music and faith and it is Jamaica's trendiest cultural export.

After witnessing these testimonials from our Jamaican villagers, one will leave with a better understanding of Caribbean history to share with others and achieve a greater realization of the larger social dimensions and implications of people coexisting peacefully with one another.

In between the Jamaican village that portrays slavery and the Barbados village that recognizes the landowner there is the a sugar cane factory. Here, the process of separating the cane from the sugar is practiced everyday. Another by product of sugar is the brown molasses which would sink to the bottom and the white sugar crystals would surface to the top. The sugar planters would then distill the rum from the molasses. So much for having a sweet tooth, huh? Rum is a very popular drink of the Caribbean even our pirates from the Virgin Island village will vividly testify. Ever heard of these rum cocktails: piña coladas, Cuba libre, planter punch, and the all deceiving rum punch.

May we also suggest other sites to experience Jamaican living. Don't forget to sample some blue mountain coffee at the Plantation House for breakfast. Or why don't you see how it compares with other coffees at the Puerto Rican coffee plantation. And if you want to take any of the many varieties of fine coffees home for friends and family, go to Ports of Call Marketplace. On Victoria Avenue, we capture the atmosphere of famous Jamaican towns such as Montego Bay, Kinston, Port Royal and Spanish Town with coffee cafes and other wonderful enchanting shops. And for you chocolate lovers, don't forget to visit the Chocolate Factory producing cocoa butter, drinking chocolate, and chocolate bars.

Click Jamaica to learn more.

Top Of Page

You can email comments to the webmaster at webmaster@caribbeantown.com. Copyright © 1999 - 2002 Caribbean Town. All rights reserved.  Visit us at www.caribbeantown.com  Revised: November 11, 2006, Site Map, Search