Love Is My Religion :: Easter Weekend

My first Easter weekend in Jamaica has been an interesting experience. For most Jamaicans, the church is the center of their lives so you can imagine that Easter is a huge deal here. Schools are closed for a four-day weekend to include Good Friday and Easter Monday. For us trainees, this means a nice long weekend away from training classes. It also means experiencing what it means to be a non-religious person in a very religious Jamaica, for me at least.

I attended Sunday service with my host family last week for the first time. I knew that it would be different than a church service in the States, but I didn't realize just how different it would be. For me, it was a little overwhelming. Everyone was extremely welcoming and we even got introduced by name, but I didn't think that I would be returning after that first service for personal reasons.

After Sunday service

I know how important Easter weekend is to my host family so, in an attempt to further integrate, I decided to attend Good Friday service. I really took the time to look around and take in everything that was going on around me. Here are a few observations that I made about that particular service as well as Easter Sunday:

• Every single person in that building was there because they wanted to be there. No one was there to keep up appearances or to feel better about themselves for the bad things they had done over the past week. They were there for the simple fact that they wanted to worship. It was a beautiful thing.

• No one cared what they looked like. Yes, everyone was dressed nicely, but that's not what I mean. People were throwing their hands in the air when they felt it and a few people were even crying as they prayed. They would yell out praises and sing along with the choir without a single care about what they sounded like to others around them. It was their time to worship in whatever way they wanted to.

• People came and went as they pleased. My host mother and I moseyed in about an hour after service started and nobody blinked an eye. A few people even came in after us. Some left early. It didn't matter. No one was gossiping about why anyone was late or acting superior because they had been there the entire time. In fact, I think that I'm the only person that noticed people coming in and out at all times. Everyone else was focused on their worshipping.

• There were no Easter bunnies. There were no pastel dresses, no baskets filled with candy (all though Lindy and I did indulge in some of the candy that I brought from home), no egg dyeing, no hunts. Nothing. Just a simple Sunday church service to celebrate. Not that there's anything wrong with those things. I used to rock a pastel dress at Easter egg hunts back in my day (see below). It was just different and a little bit refreshing. I didn't attend the service, but I could hear it from my bedroom window and I can assure you that there were none of the theatrics that I was used to seeing back home.

Me as a full-grown adult participating in (and winning) an Easter egg hunt in 2013

All in all, it was extremely positive for me and a huge learning experience. I might not share the exact same beliefs as most Jamaicans, but I can totally respect theirs (and most other beliefs that differ from mine). In making the decision to move to a foreign country for two years, I made the decision to learn about and be open-minded to the cultural differences that I run into. This was a big one for me, and I'm looking forward to continuing to learn.

"All my days I've been searching, to find out what this life is worth

through the books and bibles of time I've made up my mind

I don't condemn, I don't convert, this is a calling have you heard

bring all the lovers to the fold, cause no one is gonna lose their soul

Love is my religion

hey you can take it or leave it, and you don't have to believe it"

As a final thought, I wanted to mention that the song that I've chosen for this post perfectly sums up my feelings on this particular topic. For me, the most important part of learning about others is having love in your heart. Judging and harboring hateful feelings does nothing but ensure a negative experience for everyone involved.

Bles op.
(Bless up/best wishes to you in Patwa)

xoxo, Leah

EDIT: How could I forget to include Easter bun and cheese?! Easter bun, a super dense spiced bread with raisins, is topped with lots of cheese. It is my new favorite thing and a very popular tradition here in Jamaica.

Bun and cheese