One of the subjects of study developed by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) that has been slowly gaining ground is Drama, which is offered at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level as Theatre Arts and at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) level as a part of the Performing Arts.
It is a most underrated and misunderstood subject whose strength, value, importance and academic worth have not been properly appreciated by schools and their administrators. Yet there are factors that lend these studies of drama considerable significance.
Among the more valuable and enduring features at the CSEC level is the study of Cultural Forms. The programme includes Playmaking as one of the examinable components in which students work in groups to create and perform a short play whose theme and storyline must be based on a cultural form. These are usually prescribed and periodically changed. For example, the selected forms have included Carnival, the Land Ship, Mashramani, Wake, La Rose, Storytelling and Stick Fighting.
These are selected from among the cultural, social and spiritual traditions of the Caribbean. The value in the syllabus comes from the requirement that the class is expected to research these traditions within their various societies across the region and use the beliefs, practices, social significance and performance elements as the basis of a playmaking exercise. They create, develop and perform the plays, using plot, themes, rituals, beliefs and performance characteristics of the chosen form.
There is, of course, a great deal of benefit to be derived from this. It is a strong academic component of the subject. Students are introduced to research, which most likely does not happen in most other subjects at CSEC level. They have to gain knowledge of the cultural form they choose to do. They have to learn how to do this by field research, interviewing people and from consulting reading material. They have to tax their imagination to create a dramatic script built around the social practice of the cultural form or tradition. They then call upon their accumulated skills of stage-craft and their learned talents to perform what they have created.
The aim of the subject of Theatre Arts is ambitious. These are fairly demanding skills for inexperienced secondary school students at this level. Yet, they carry out these tasks and are examined on them. One of the most difficult parts of this study has to be the acquisition of information. Most of these cultural forms are not thoroughly documented and reading material is not readily available in abundance. There is material on Carnival, particularly the Trinidad Carnival in several publications, but at university level in learned tomes that were not written for secondary school or teenage consumption. Similar material is scarce for most of the other cultural forms. Yet these fledgling researchers face the challenge.
The wake
Let us take the example of the wake, which has been by far the most popular choice of cultural form across various schools, perhaps because of its prevalence and the fact that it is a common practice known by most in society. Yet, knowledge of the wake is scanty and rarely documented. In Guyana, if normal contemporary practice is followed, a wake is a communal event where relatives, friends, often work-mates and acquaintances gather at the home of a bereaved family following a death. There, they play games, predominantly dominoes and are entertained with drinks and food by the hosts. This goes on through the night, for many nights until the funeral. In fact, it is much more, but general knowledge of it hardly goes any further. It is a social act, sometimes religious or spiritual, sometimes both.
Reading material is scarce, and as far as interviews go, the average family member or participant is generally uninformed. There are very good publications – particularly The Sociology of Slavery by Orlando Patterson and Black Roadways by Martha Warren Beckwith — which provide well researched material. These are strong because Beckwith’s research was done in communities more than 100 years ago, and the value of Patterson is that he goes back to the period of slavery. It is to be noted, however, that most of the practices and rituals they document are extinct and will not be seen or remembered in any wake today.
As a cultural form, a wake is a tradition in the Caribbean, but much reduced since the rituals have hardly survived, except in some rural districts. It is a rite of passage, a ritual related to the life cycle, held to observe the passing of a person from one stage or state of life into another. Events or rituals performed to mark the cycle are called rites of passage. Some of these are religious or spiritual; others secular, social. Most relate to people’s beliefs. The wake is related to death.
It is a practice, mostly in rural villages, that neighbours and friends contribute to the refreshments to relieve the financial burden on the family. The guests give support to the grieving family by keeping them lively, accompanied, sometimes exchanging fond memories of the deceased. At some events they sing hymns in addition to playing games.
The wake is also known as a “set up” in Jamaica and it might go on all night. In Guyana the games played used to include a word or speech game known as “birdin”, and a performance known as “nansi tori”. Both seem to be extinct.
In the Caribbean there are wake traditions that are of African derivation, and will reflect survivals from cultural and religious practices brought to the region by enslaved Africans. Some have survived and are mixed with Caribbean creole society. Among these is the “Nine Night” (also popular in Jamaica) – a wake held nine nights after the person’s death with certain rituals. There is also the “Forty Night” – which is held on the 40th night. This is most likely a mixture of African and Christian influences, and the significance of 40 derives from Jesus Christ spending 40 days in fasting and prayer in preparation for the crucifixion.
Many of the former practices came from a belief in ancestor worship – a person who dies goes on a journey after death to join the ancestors. Some African traditions envisage an actual journey taking place for which they need to be properly sent off through the wake and rituals. There is the belief that if not properly sent off, the spirit will remain and will not have rest. Because of this, the spirit of the deceased is invited to visit the Nine Night or Wake through the medium of drums and libation with white rum.
In some cases possession used to be a part of the ritual in which the spirit accepted the invitation and might possess a family member in the wake. During the possession, things were revealed about the deceased such as the cause of death and who might have been responsible. There was the belief that the deceased needed to settle outstanding conflicts or issues with other people before departure. People were usually advised when leaving a wake not to announce their departure because there was a chance that the spirit could follow them or they might die next. Other rituals which have disappeared include the Bongo Dance, known in Trinidad. It was an African spiritual dance performed by men at wakes or funerals to send off the deceased.
Those, however, are some of the past spiritual associations. These beliefs were accompanied by practices which included turning over the mattress on the deceased’s bed or taking it outside to be burnt, and the covering of mirrors in the house.
Several of these associations are tied to social behaviour or historical cultural knowledge. The playmaking performances, and the research which inform them, can also just contribute to the preservation of cultural traditions. Students will learn more about their own or other Caribbean societies because of their study and participation in Theatre Arts. Students are also more fortified for the requirements of life.
