Pride News Canada's Leader In African Canadian & Caribbean News, Views & Lifestyle
By Dwain Wellington Rattray
Pride Editorial Operations Manager
The island’s spirit always enchants my soul. Jamaica is more than sand, sea and sun; it is more that reggae music and jerk chicken or jerk pork.
The “Land of Wood and Water”, is an experience in itself, boasting a vast array of attractions and treasures not readily known. Whether you are looking for a family vacation, or to be being pampered in a spa or a romantic getaway, it can be provided.
If you would like to visit a plantation or rum factory, tour a historical site, go horseback riding, raft on a river, enjoy a cruise, scuba dive or snorkel, the possibilities are endless. You will find that the vast majority of the 2.8 million people are warm and accommodating, eager to share and enhance your experience.
The third most populous English speaking nation in the Americas, after the United States and Canada, Jamaica gained full independence from Britain on August 6, 1962. The country’s motto, “Out of Many, One People” is indicative of the faces you will see in Jamaica.
As a previous slave colony, the country is a mélange of nationalities, coming together to create the beauty many locals simply call “the Rock”.
It is common place to see a white faced Jamaican, or Jamaicans of Asian ancestry. Often, visitors are taken by surprise upon hearing non-Black natives speak the Jamaican vernacular, or patois.
As her motto reflects her people, so does her flag and its meaning embody the spirit of Jamaica. Two diagonal yellow lines form a cross on the flag, which sections it off in four parts. The top and bottom sections are equal-sized green triangles, and the left and right sections are equal-sized black triangles. Its meaning: ‘Hardships there are but the land is green and the sun shineth’.
The black triangles represent adversity overcome and possible future hardships. The green triangles represent hope and agriculture while the golden saltire represents mineral wealth and sunlight.
It is this attitude of triumph that has taken the mystique of Jamaica and Jamaicans across the globe. As the nation celebrates 52 years of independence, Jamaicans worldwide will engage in various festivities.
Nationals and well-wishers alike will allow all their senses to be enveloped by the spicy aroma that is Jamaica, whether in the “backyard” of their current foreign city or somewhere on the island itself.
The versatility and fortitude of the Jamaican people speak to the ideals to which all peoples should strive. Naysayers will point to crime and economic challenges as negative points against this argument.
If we keep in mind that this nation is just celebrating the anniversary of its 52nd independence, and use that as a barometer for progress, the evidence shows that the island in the sun is on the right track.
