
Christmas in Trinidad and Tobago is a time to look back on the old and prepare for the new year. The house must be given a thorough cleaning and decorated; a portion of the Christmas budget always goes to buying something new for the house at this time of year. New curtains are hung, windows are washed, furniture is recovered, long-delayed repairs are made, a new piece of linoleum is laid and the paint brush is busy. The famous Black Fruit Cake must be prepared well in advance to let the flavours be soaked up. The same is true for the home-made drinks: the plantain wine, sorrel, ginger beer and Ponche à Creme.
Christmas food is plentiful with the main course usually a ham, or perhaps a turkey, backed by sweet potatoes, pastelles, calaloo and crab, pigeon peas and rice. Extras must be oprepared for the relatives returning for the holiday from North America and visiros that are sure to drop in on Christmas and Boxing Day. Most island families will go to church for the Christmas Eve midnight service or the morning service on Christmas Day.
The most distinctive aspect of a Trinidadian Christmas is the music of the season, parang. The term is derived from the Spanish parranda or “spree”– Trinidad was a Spanish colony until 1797 when it fell to the British. The music itself is a lively combination of Spanish and Venezuelan influences which melded over the centuries. It was customary for groups of parranderos to go from house to house singing these Christmas songs (in Spanish for the most part) and receiving hospitality in return. Like the parrandistas of Christmas in Puerto Rico they have songs to gain admission to the house and different topics to sing once they are admitted. Today the traditional acoustic instruments have given way to electrified instruments but the spirit of love for the season and hospitality remain the same. Traditionalists worry about the modernization of the art form. A new variety entitled soca-parang has emerged, praising Christmas with different rhythms and English lyrics.
Once Christmas has passed Trinidadians begin to prepare for the onset of Carnival