National museum to highlight Old Harbour Bay’s Buru

The display will be mounted December 23, 2020 through January 2021.

The Christmas Day custom has been happening for untold generations and includes a parade through Old Harbour Bay beginning on Christmas morning. Buru is akin to the more recognised Jonkunoo and Masquerade, although now celebrated in Old Harbour Bay without costumes. On Christmas Day the Buru drummers move through the community singing songs of rebuke and ridicule about members of the community who have committed offenses during the past year.

No one is beyond reproach, be they teacher, preacher, politician or inspector. Accused, convicted and shamed, the Buru provides a venue for offenders to redeem themselves, firstly to the ancestors and community as a whole, and to make amends publicly to the injured. Ultimately, the expectation and everyone’s hope is for delinquents to join in the fun and singing - to accept their ‘correction’ and join in making the community whole for the New Year.     

David Stimpson, curator at National Museum Jamaica who is responsible for the Buru display, expresses the importance of this tradition.

He states “this is an entirely spontaneous community effort, one no doubt reminiscent of so many of our grass-roots customs that have been lost, or that are dependent on government agency. The people of Old Harbour Bay, as far as I know, are unique in upholding their Buru. Indeed, it is an obligation that is still strongly felt by young and old, who each year, together, compose new songs on the local happenings”.

Deep rooted in tradition the parade begins with the drummers and singers visiting the graves and homes of Buru group members who have passed on. Dousing the ground with rum as is a tradition all across Jamaica that is done to honour one’s ancestors.