Hello friends! Are you ready to get another adventure going?
Today we are traveling to Jamaica, one of the islands in the Caribbean Sea, also known as the Antilles.
If you want to learn more about Jamaica don’t forget to download our activity package:
Click here to download the Jamaica learning guide
Click here to download the Jamaica flashcards
Click here to download the Jamaica coloring pages
Click here to download the Jamaica handwriting sheets
Jamaica is a pretty happy place, this is because the habitants are known for being laid back and happy people — community-driven and tight-knit.
What Language is Spoken in Jamaica
The language spoken in Jamaica is known as Patois/Patwa, Patwa is very similar to English, but they like to borrow some of their words from some West African languages. Now, what’s the first thing we say when meeting someone? That’s right! HELLO! In patwa you say wagwan!
Beaches and Waterfalls in Jamaica
Jamaica has some of the most amazing blue water beaches and beautiful waterfalls in the world! Such as Dunn’s River Falls, a famous waterfall that looks like giant natural stairs and is located near Ocho Rios. At about 180 feet (55 m) high and 600 feet (180 m) long, this is a major Caribbean tourist attraction that receives thousands of visitors each year. The Luminous Lagoon is another great example of Jamaica’s beauty, this lagoon hosts a variety of bioluminescent microorganisms in its waters and they create an amazing and pretty glow when perturbed. The best time to visit this place is at night, the more the water moves, the more it glows!
People can travel on Jamaican water through bamboo rafting. Although bamboo is a grass that originally comes from China, it grows very fast in Jamaica, so they chop it down with their cutlasses and wrap it all together, and put it on the river. Then they relax and float down the river, pushing themselves with a big stick that reaches the bottom of the river! It’s slow and relaxing like the Gondolas in Italy, and not so much like the white water rafting in the US or Canada.
Jamaican Foods and Fruits
The popular Jamaican breakfast options include Johnny cake, which is a cornmeal flatbread, and Salt Mackerel, a pickled fish! People also like to use a lot of coconuts in their recipes, like rice! They add peas and it gives a different and tasty flavor! But the Caribbean is known for being super hot, so we’ll need something refreshing to cool off. Well, here it is very common to do it with coconut milk! They have a lot of coconuts around, you can find them pretty much anywhere! Coconuts are very popular all over the Caribbean. They knock them out of the trees and break them open with a dagger to drink its milk.
Jamaica’s national fruit is the ackee and it’s considered a delicacy! Ackees are red or orange pear-shaped fruit with 3 lobes, and when it ripens, it splits open to reveal three large, shiny black seeds that look like crab eyes! This tasty fruit’s soft and spongy interior is white and has the nut-like flavor and texture of scrambled eggs. And although it tastes sweeter than scrambled eggs, it’s commonly served with fish in the Ackee and Saltfish, the official national dish of Jamaica! But be careful! If you eat raw Ackee it can make you sick, so make sure to cook it just like the Jamaicans do.
Another very common fruit in Jamaica is plantains, which are a type of thicker, and sometimes green kind of banana. But the main difference from the traditional yellow banana we all know and love is that you can’t eat plantains until you slice them and cook them. You can even fry them and eat them like a chip!
Now let’s talk about a different, yet interesting fruit, the star fruit! This is a yellow fruit that when you sliced it, looks like, you guessed it, a star! The flesh is crunchy, firm, and extremely juicy. It does not contain fibers and has a texture similar to that of grapes. Here’s an interesting fact: The juice of the more acidic sour types of star fruit can be used to clean rusty or tarnished metal as well as bleach rust stains from cloth!
But wait! We are not done with food yet! One of Jamaica’s most famous dishes is the Jamaican patty. This is a tasty pastry that contains various fillings and spices baked inside a flaky shell, often tinted golden yellow with an egg yolk mixture. It is traditionally filled with seasoned ground beef, chicken, pork, lamb, vegetables, shrimp, lobster, fish, soy, cheese, and even the previously mentioned ackee. Of course, the best way to eat it is inside a sliced open coco bread!
Now, let’s move to the spicier side of Jamaican food. Jamaica is well known for its Jerk seasoning, which consists of dry-rubbed or wet meat being marinated with a hot spice mixture. But how is this spice made? The traditional jerk spice recipe includes bird peppers, pimento, and pepper elder. Modern recipes may include, scallions, garlic, ginger, pimento, thyme, cinnamon, and Scotch bonnet peppers, which are in the same family as habaneros
Keeping up with the more adult food, here’s something that your parents may find very interesting: the Blue Mountain coffee! Blue Mountain coffee is grown in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica and it’s well known for its mild flavor and lack of bitterness. And an interesting fact about this coffee is that Over 80% of all Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is exported to Japan, A country we’ve talked about before!
People associate the Caribbean and Jamaica with having soul food. What does this mean? Is it good for your soul? Jamaican and Caribbean culture is focused on the family. Food and the preparation of food for the family is a vital and pivotal part of Jamaican life, the family, and the community structure. Soulfood is a very unique cuisine, dishes cooked with passion and love bringing a true taste of the Caribbean. It’s something similar to grandma’s food or like a meal that smells amazing and makes you want to eat it.
Greeting in Jamaica
Do you have a secret handshake with your best friends? The Jamaican handshake looks a lot like that! Jamaica’s handshake may seem like a game of thumb wars, but each of the three movements represents a special agreement between the two friends for peace, love, and respect.
Fashion in Jamaica
In Jamaica, the quadrille dress is made of cotton. It’s called a bandana skirt. The skirt is worn with a ruffled sleeve blouse and a matching head tie. In the past, shoes were called wompers and made of grass and leaves. Men’s traditional attire consists of loose white pants that are rolled up to the knees in a similar way to those worn by the people who work in the fields.
Jamaica art activities
As soon as you arrive in Jamaica, you can sense the vibe that has given birth to a wealth of rich history and art. With their blend of African and Caribbean influences, they have so much personality! From reggae music to wooden and textile arts such as tie-dye and braiding. This is what we know as Jamaican rasta style! You may not know this, but Jamaican rasta style is more than just dreadlocks! Rastafarianism is the Jamaican spiritual movement influenced by local philosophical and spiritual thoughts that teach the principle of a balanced lifestyle. This spiritual concept is known as Livity! It also includes the wearing of long hair locked in its natural, uncombed state, dressing in the colors of red, green, gold, and black (which symbolize the life force of blood, herbs, royalty, and Africanness), and eating a natural vegetarian diet known as “I-tal.” Religious rituals include meditation and drumming ceremonies. They know how to celebrate life!
Jamaican Music
Now, we really can’t talk about Rastafarianism without mentioning reggae music, can we? Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s and grew out of the Rastafari movement. Reggae is a mostly soft and relaxed genre with lyrics about peace and love, although social problems are also a common topic in the songs. It was made popular throughout the world by Jamaican singer and songwriter Bob Marley, you may have heard of him, one of his most famous songs is “Is This Love.”
Speaking of reggae, Did you know there’s a certain clothing style often associated with this music? Yeah, that’s right, and the Tie-dye is a great example! This popular dyeing technique. that is also associated with the hippie movement, makes colorful and psychedelic clothing! And the best part is that it is very easy to do it at home. You just have to wind your shirt into a circle, hold it very tight with rubber bands, and start painting it with vibrant colors! If you wanna try it, make sure to ask an adult for help!
Jamaicans are great dancers and musicians, but what instruments are they most famous for? The answer is acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box, also known as marímbula, the rhumba box is an instrument very famous in the Caribbean, and it’s made out of a wooden box with a sound hole cut in the center of it. Across this hole, several metal strips are attached at one end to the box. This instrument carries the bass part of the music.
Jamaican Athletes
Jamaicans have amazing athletes, like Usain Bolt, “the fastest man on Earth”, and that nickname is no joke, he can run at 27 MPH (37.0149 KPH), he’s faster than a roadrunner! There are also other famous Jamaican athletes, such as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, also a track and field sprinter, two-time Olympic gold medallist, and four-time world champion. And of course, we can’t forget about the Jamaica national bobsleigh team. I know what you’re thinking, “a cold weather sport represented by a nation with a tropical environment?” Yeah, that’s crazy.
People say that Jamaica has such good athletes because of the yams! This is a tuber vegetable found widely in Jamaica and is very rich in nutrients! something similar to popeye! Well, Jamaican people also have the body shape to their favor, they have very long legs, strength, and height! Something that good food helps you with! don’t you think?
Jamaican animals
Jamaica doesn’t have deers or bears but they have lots of tropical fish, iguana, monkeys, and boas which are huge and thick snakes, the boa constrictor – for example – has been reported to grow to a maximum of 14 feet (4.3 m) in length! But don’t get too scared now, these snakes are non-venomous and a lot of them live with people like pets!
Jamaican Carnival
Jamaica is well known for its amazing and exotic carnivals, such as the J’ouvert festival which is celebrated all around the Caribbean, and the most recent “Carnival in Jamaica”. These carnivals are so famous that even London has carnivals that celebrate Caribbean and African culture.
Christmas in Jamaica
Maybe you are planning on visiting during the Christmas season? Christmas in Jamaica shares a lot with American or European Christmas but here are some of the differences: First of all, Dinner on Christmas Day; the most enormous feast for Jamaicans, includes chicken, oxtail, goat curry, roast ham, and rice, and gungo peas, which are slightly bigger than the traditional peas. No turkey? Woah, that’s weird! Homes are traditionally decorated with bright red poinsettias, and Santa Claus is also around Jamaica during Christmas.
So if you want to travel to Jamaica don’t forget to check the weather! It can get a little rainy!
Get the camera ready and let’s travel to Jamaica!
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