PiecesPast
[ News | Go - Kingston | Discover Jamaica ]



Deadly superstitions
When a person dies, his/her position in death should be changed so as to confuse the spirit of the dead ...Burials should be scheduled for early in the morning or from 5-6 p.m., never in the middle of the day ...If you talk loudly at night, a duppy will injure you ...
   
Dr. Rebecca Tortello, Contributor

Superstitions permeate many aspects of Jamaican life. Not surprisingly, the cultural influence most often cited is African. What may be unrecognised, however, is that the area with the strongest retention is death, including burial practices. Most of these beliefs are born out of fear of the unknown; fear of what happens after death and how it can affect the living. These actions are carried out because it is believed that they will protect those left alive from the wrath of the spirit of the dead, known colloquially in Jamaica as the duppy.

Many Jamaicans believe that when a person dies, his soul goes toheaven but his spirit stays for a while, sometimes permanently. Some say the duppy rises on the third day after the burial and returns to the house to wander around his/her possessions, finally leaving on the ninth night. Relatives and friends gather at the house of the dead to welcome his return and send him back to the grave. Often cause for celebration, wakes or 'set-ups' are held and on the ninth night; an all-night vigil is sometimes held.

Signs of Death

According to the Jamaica Information Service's (JIS) (1991) Jamaica Folk Customs and Beliefs, omens of death include: the unusual crying of animals, birds or insects; the crowing of a cock inside the house. Similarly, the sudden occurrence and abrupt end of a rain shower on a clear day and a loud knock on the door or roof for no apparent reason are taken to mean death is imminent. If two people say the same thing at the same time, it means they will die together. If you add to a house or cut down an old tree, you must kill a goat or a chicken and shed the blood to prevent the death of someone in the house.

Coping with Death

JIS (1991) and Hopwood (2003) note the following beliefs are designed to protect the living. They tend to be quite specific and require strict adherence to instructions. Many include the use of water.

For example, one must not throw out the water used to wash the dead body unless the duppy is told first. Some say that the water must be emptied into the grave following internment.

All the mirrors in the 'dead' room must be covered so as to prevent the reflection of the living being cast upon the dead. This prevents the living from pining away. Some believe that the water and a light must be left on in the room and the room must remain unchanged for nine nights. The water must be emptied each morning.

To rid the house of the ghost of the dead person, you can also burn rosemary and scatter rice.

Place 10 coffee beans in the 'dead' room and no duppies can enter - they can only count to nine.

In order for the spirit of the dead not to return and haunt any family member, they must all say goodbye to the corpse and every child must be lifted and passed over the coffin while its name is said. No tears are to fall on the body or the ghost will return to haunt the mourner. The body should also not be kissed or the teeth of the kisser will rot.

Before the coffin leaves the house, the husband or wife of the deceased must put on a piece of black cloth with a white cross made of chalk. This is to be worn for the next four to five months.

Buttons must be removed from the clothes of the deceased and the clothes must be pinned or sewn without knots or the ghost will return. Pockets must also be sewn up or the ghost will return and fill it with stones and harm those left alive.

If you leave a wake, simply touch a person who is to leave with you - do not announce it - so that the duppy does not follow you home. You should also walk backwards and turn around three times since duppies walk in a straight line.

The body must be taken out feet first and through the front door. If the back door is used, the spirit of the dead will not leave the house.

As soon as the body leaves, the room must be swept out.

Burials

  • Either one man or an odd number of men should dig the grave. After the digger makes the first dig, he should drink some rum.
  • The grave must be dug east to west and the body placed to face the sun.
  • When filling the grave, the diggers must stand with their backs to the grave and throw dirt in backwards through their legs to prevent the ghost from following them home.
  • A calabash tree should be planted at the head and foot of the grave.

Duppies

Duppies are said to live in the roots of cotton trees, bamboo thickets or in abandoned buildings. They eat bamboo roots, fig leaves and the fruit of a vine called the 'duppy pumpkin'. Although generally believed to be harmful (especially when used by an obeah-man), there are good and bad duppies.

Duppies can take on the shape of humans or animals and are also able to change themselves into different forms. They can talk, laugh, sing, cook, smoke, ride horses and generally do anything a human can. When they do ride, however, they are said to use the animal's tail as a bridle.

Interestingly, a number of Jamaican plant names feature the word 'duppy'. This use of the term 'duppy' in plant names to distinguish between edible and inedible plants shows how superstition helps to direct the relationship between Jamaicans and their environment. Generally, what is good for the duppy is bad for humans - this is an important lesson to learn from a young age. For example, there is the real chocho and the duppy chocho, the real coconut and the duppy coconut. There is the real tomato and the duppy tomato, the real soursop and the duppy soursop and the real cherry and the duppy cherry, etc. Similarly, certain plants like night-blooming jasmine are known to attract duppies and Jamaicans know to keep them away from their homes (Resford, J.,1984, p. 69). According to noted historian Edward Long, this belief in the good and bad qualities of certain plants and trees comes from Africa. (as cited, ibid., 1984, p. 69).

Again, the information included in these folk customs about duppies is consistently specific. The following are noted by JIS (1991):

If you are followed by a duppy, stop and mark an X on the ground and since they can only count to nine they will spend the night trying to count to X.

Do not speak to a duppy immediately or it will hurt you. If he is wearing black, he is harmless. But if he is wearing white, he is dangerous.

Use your left hand to strike a duppy.

Do not kill any green lizards in a graveyard as theyare believed to be duppies.

If you are in the bushes and hear a stick break, it is a warning from a dead relative that the area is unsafe.

If you feel a sudden gust of warm air, it means that a duppy is present.

While there is no official recognition of the role of superstition in everyday Jamaican life, it is clearly holding on strong as generation after generation share these ideas and continue to act on these beliefs.

Sources: Author unknown. (1991) Jamaica Folk Customs and Beliefs. Kingston: Jamaica Information Service (JIS), Hopwood, A. (2003). "Jamaican 'Dead Yard' Cultures and Customs throughout the Years," in "J. D. Morgan and P. Laungani (eds). Death and Bereavement Around the World. Amityville, New York: Baywood Publishing Co.; pp. 77-94., Folk-Lore of the Negroes of Jamaica: (Continued) Folklore, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Mar. 25, 1905), pp. 68-77 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0015-587X%2819050325%2916%3A1%3C68%3AFOTNOJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K&size=LARGE, Folklore of the Negroes of Jamaica. II (Continued) Folklore, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Jun. 24, 1904), pp. 206-214

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0015-587X(19040624)15%3A2%3C206%3AFOTNOJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O, Resford, J. (1984, May). "Plants, Spirits and the Meaning of "John" in Jamaica" in Jamaica Journal, 12, (2). Pp. 62-70, Senior, O. (2003). The Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage. Kingston: Twin Guinep Publishers.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* If any readers have information regarding the development of aviation in Jamaica please email Rebecca Tortello at rtortello@hotmail.com

GET IT NOW!

You can now purchase your copy of Pieces of the Past by Dr. Rebecca Tortello at Amazon.com

Available at Bookstores islandwide.


 


Give Us Your Feedback | Read what others had to say
Name
E-mail
Country
Comments
Complete List of Past Pieces
Current
Port Royal Earthquake
Port Royal Earthquake : I Was There
June 20, 1965: Martin Luther King Jr. visits Jamaica
Bog Walk Tube
For Your Listening Pleasure
The Road to Freedom
Birth of Independence
Hurricane of 1780
Tragedy at Kendal 1957
The Ward Theatre 1912
The Guarded City: Port Royal 1690
The Triumph of Will:1960s
The History of Our Parishes
Jamaica and the Great War
Jamaica's Grand Hotels
Celebrating Christmas Jamaica 'Style'
Disaster - The Earthquake of 1907
The Great Exhibition of 1891
The Mutiny On The Bounty & The Arrival of The First Breadfruit 1793
The Fall Of A Gentle Giant: The Collapse of Tom Cringle's Cotton Tree
Jamaica's Botanical Gardens
All Hail The State Visit Of Emperor Haile Selassie I
Jamaican Healer And War Heroine Mary Seacole
Mistresses Of The Sea: Female Pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny
The Capital City: A Historic Look At Kingston
Riots Here: Send Help At Once
A Historic Portrait of the Town Where Jamaica's Tourism Began
Devon House -The first 500 years in Jamaica
Jamaican Coffee - A beverage of distinction
Jamaican Rum - A kill-devil of a drink
Jamaica Festival - What a Bam Bam
Captivated by Jamaica - Sir Hans Sloane's Passion for Jamaica
Captivated by Jamaica Pt II - Noel Coward, Errol Flynn and Ian Fleming
The Founding Of The BITU & The JLP
The Founding Of the People's National Party
Lewis Hutchinson: The Mad Master
A Pioneer, A Survivor: Dr. Cicely Williams

Henry Morgan: The Pirate King

Claude McKay: Jamaica's First Poet Laureate
Frazier versus Foreman on the Sunshine Island 1973
The Magical Spiderman: Anancy
The Case Of The Shark Papers
Katherine Dunham - Matriarch of Modern Dance
Money - The Roots of Jamaican Currency
Simon Bolivar: El Liberatador
Old Time Tellin's: A Closer Look At Jamaican Proverbs
Recollections of World War II
Place Names - A Window to Jamaica's History & Character: Wnat's In A Name?
The History Of Spanish Town
A Cultural Explication Of Empire: Lady Nugent's Journal
The History Of Falmouth: Boom Town Of The 19th Century
Dreamers Among Us - Famous Jamaican Scientists- Prof. Louis Grant 1913 - 1993 Part I
Dreamers Among Us - Famous Jamaican Scientists-Part II
Out Of Many Cultures: The People Who Came - The Jews In Jamaica
Out Of Many Cultures: The People Who Came - The Chinese
Out Of Many Cultures: The People Who Came - The Lebanese
Out Of Many Cultures: The People Who Came - The Indians
Out Of Many Cultures: The People Who Came - The Irish
Out Of Many Cultures: The People Who Came - The Africans
Out Of Many Cultures: The People Who Came - The Germans
Colourful Characters - Jamaican Birds
The Stamp Of History: The Jamaican Postal Service
The People Who Came - The English
Old-time Jamaican weddings
In this place dwelt Horatio Nelson
Printing in Jamaica
Museums in Jamaica
Gibraltar Camp: A Refuge From War
HISTORY OF AVIATION IN JAMAICA: PART I
HISTORY OF AVIATION IN JAMAICA: PART II
Roads & RESISTANCE
KINGSTON'S HISTORIC AND DIVERSE PLACES OF WORSHIP RELIGIOUS ICONS part 1
KINGSTON'S HISTORIC AND DIVERSE PLACES OF WORSHIP RELIGIOUS ICONS part 2
The history of the Salvation Army in Jamaica CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS
Somewhere beyond the sea
A fascination with football
Jamaican Horse racing History
A Time to Live...Jamaican Birth Rituals
A Time to Die Death rituals
Deadly superstitions

Feedback To the Series

"This is an absolutely fantastic series. It is critical that we preserve these for the long term as well as continuing to share with upcoming generations so that they can understand and feel connected to the past and that it continues to have some relevance to their future." - Peter, USA.

"This article was heartfelt. I moved away from my home country, Jamaica, as a little girl and have missed out on some of the history that I was to have learned" - Cadiehead, Jamaica.

"My son is now learning a great deal about the history of his parents homeland. Please continue with this fantastic educational site." - Sonia , England.

"Keep up the good works. It's important that these events and people are chronicled, so that history doesn't die, or get misinterpeted. Remember no history, no future." - Fabian, Canada.

"Touching, touching I yet again applaud at how much exposed Jamaica is. Keep writing these articles they are they main reason I read the newsletters (Go-jamaica)." - Georgia, USA

"Thoses Proverbs are great. I remember growing in Jamaica and hearing my grandmother using some of them." - Richard, Puerto Rico.

"I think these proverbs are very, very good especially for me who always like my roots and culture so much. Indeed I appreciate things of like this that not only educate but keeps one in line with their past. Once again thank to you all for this great effort. Now I know where to procure educative information. I am really impressed. Go my Jamaica. " - Motumbo, Costa Rica


The First 500 years in Jamaica

We're taking you for a stroll down memory lane for the next six months. Along this journey,we will relive several events which
significantly impacted on the social, political and economic development of Jamaica. As we travel share your experience with us...

Send your comments to:

Pieces of the Past,
The Gleaner Company Ltd.,
7 North Street, Kingston;

E - mail us:
editor@gleanerjm.com

Fax 922-6223.


A Jamaica Gleaner Feature originally posted June 4, 2007
Copyright 2001-2007.. Produced by Go-Jamaica.com