Millions of couples around the world choose Jamaica’s beautiful beaches for their wedding ceremonies every year. Unfortunately, most people outside of the Caribbean only know the modern commercial side of Jamaican marriages. Most tourists don’t know anything about old Jamaican wedding traditions.
If you’re interested in these pre-colonial Jamaican practices, please read on. In this article, we’ll go through nine interesting Jamaican wedding traditions that are still practiced today in a few rural areas.
1. Everyone in Town Is Welcome to the Wedding
Traditional Jamaican weddings weren’t just family affairs. Typically the bride and groom’s families sent out wedding invitations to everyone in their home village. Sometimes guests from around town would even show up uninvited. Both before and after the wedding, everyone in town was welcome to join in the reception festivities.
Today, it’s rare to see Jamaicans in big cities like Kingston still practicing this tradition. Most Jamaican brides and grooms enlist the help of a professional wedding consultant to help plan their big day. However, there are still a few tight-knit communities in rural areas of Jamaica that practice this custom.
2. Traditional Jamaican Wedding Cakes
Almost ever Jamaican festivity has some kind of homemade cake attached with it, and traditional Jamaican weddings are no different. Many wedding guests make fruitcakes so no one gets left out at the reception. The fruitcakes were traditionally presented first to the bride under a white lace.
While there’s no set recipe for a Jamaican fruit cake, but some common ingredients include cinnamon, nutmeg, molasses, red wine, dried mixed fruit, lime, lemon, and white rum. Nowadays anyone can try a Jamaican wedding cake for themselves using a recipe on the Internet.
3. Another Jamaican Wedding Dessert: Gizzadas
While not formally a part Jamaican wedding traditions, oftentimes guests bake the delicacy gizzada for a reception dessert. In case you’ve never heard of it before, a gizzada is a crisp pastry usually with coconut filling. Not only is this pastry delicious, it’s actually quite simple to make. All you need is flour, salt, butter, shortening, water, coconuts, and brown sugar. Some people add nutmeg to give the gizzada an extra flavor.
4. Pre-Wedding Festivities
OK, enough about desserts; now talk about what actually goes on during the big day. According to Jamaican wedding traditions, family and friends would gather together to play a few games, chat, and eat before the wedding ceremony. During this time, a group of married women used to parade the bride on the streets near where her wedding reception would be held.
During this procession, locals were allowed speak openly about how pretty (or ugly) the bride looked. Brides who received bad reviews from locals would rush home to touch up their makeup before the big event. Usually this lasts until daybreak or a few hours before the wedding ceremony. Everyone in attendance gives the bride and groom their blessing, and then everyone enters the church for the wedding.
5. “English” Wedding with a Jamaican Twist
Due to the influence of British colonialism, Jamaican weddings often follow the English model. Jamaican brides tend to wear white dresses and men wear formal suits. However, there are a few unique Jamaican wedding traditions.
One interesting thing to note is that it’s not uncommon for both the father and mother to walk the bride down the aisle. If there was a divorce in the family, however, only the father walks the bride down the aisle. You’ll never see a mother leading her daughter to the groom.
6. Reception at the Groom’s House
Right after the wedding, everyone heads over to the groom’s house for a reception. Most of the time grooms have a special platform built on their property just for the occasion. Before guests arrive, the groom’s family sets up a beautiful array of flowers for guests to enjoy. There’s usually tons of food, rum, and cakes to be consumed at this festive occasion. Guests tend to dance, sing, and play games at least till the late afternoon.
7. Typical Jamaican Wedding Foods
Food is so central to Jamaican culture. It shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the greatest Jamaican wedding traditions have to do with food. A few Jamaican staples you’re sure to find at a wedding reception include jerk chicken, fried plantains, and jerk fish. Curried goat or chicken is also very popular at wedding receptions.
Sometimes, guests make a batch of manish water, which is a soup composed of goat meat, dumplings, yams, and carrots. For drink, usually there’s plenty of rum and rum punch to whet everyone’s whistle. If you’re not a drinker, no worries. You should find some fresh coconut water at the reception to quench your thirst.
8. Tun T’anks Sunday
One of the most interesting Jamaican wedding traditions is called Tun T’anks Sunday. This takes place on the Sunday after wedding ceremony. When Sunday mass finishes, wedding guests visit the bride’s family’s house for a second reception. Interestingly, this ceremony tends to be larger and even more festive than the first one.
The top of the cake at this event is given to the priest who performed the wedding, and the next two slices are given to the bride and groom. Live musicians play Jamaican folk music with banjos and guitars while guests dance quadrilles.
At the end of Tun T’anks Sunday, the bride and groom usually go to their new home. Back when Jamaica was a more agrarian society, the newlyweds would be excused from working in the fields for at least a week.
9. Bonus: Modern Jamaican Wedding Traditions
Since Jamaica is such a popular destination for marriages, there’s a great deal of legal paperwork travelers have to fill out to make their Jamaican wedding dreams a reality. Although Jamaican law requires couples to be in Jamaica for at least 24 hours before their wedding ceremony, legal authorities make an exception if the couple is arriving on a cruise ship.
Also, at least 30 days before your wedding ceremony, you must send your wedding venue paperwork such as birth certificates, a valid photo ID, and (if necessary) divorce paperwork. It’s possible to have anything from an extremely formal religious ceremony or a simple secular service in modern Jamaica.
Probably the best part of a Jamaican wedding is, of course, that you don’t have to travel at all to experience one of the world’s finest honeymoon destinations.
Summing Up
Although modern-day Jamaicans don’t practice the traditions as strictly as their ancestors did, everyone in Jamaica has great respect for their heritage. As mentioned above, you’ll only find Jamaican wedding traditions practiced in less urbanized areas where village ties are still vitally important. Hopefully this list has helped you understand and have a greater respect for Jamaican culture.