Alfred Pragnell on a rainy day

-
My oldest brother is visiting from Toronto and our conversations Friday turned to Alfred Pragnell. Thank God this Guyanese born choose to settle in and call Barbados home. His stellar contribution to Barbadian storytelling is undeniable. On this rainy Sunday, I wanted to share some of his work with you all.  Not only are they funny as heck but they offer a now rare glimpse of Bajan life of yesteryear. I relish the language, traditions and nostalgia of it all. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
After lunch, gather the little ones and take a walk down Bajan memory lane with these classics.

Thanks to BajanBloom on YouTube for making these available.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking for bush

-
Image
What is it with this woman and bush, you may be wondering, but I love me some greenery! I love bush tea, I could eat bush rice everyday (seriously, I could), I study bush (herbology), I plant bush, I bathe with bush sometimes, a brother calls me Bushwoman as if it were my real name and I even call myself Wonderworld Bush for goodness sake! I am known to carry a camera and a plastic bag with me everywhere just in case the opportunity presents itself to take cuttings or at the very least to capture a pic of new plants for later research. My "condition" is so well known, that last summer I was asked by the Nuwaubian members of my community to accompany them on a walk to identify wild plants in our area. We walked for a good hour or so and it was quite amazing to note the many things I myself discovered for the first time. In fact I was so impressed that I wanted to see what I would unearth a little closer to home. I literally went on a ten minute walk around my house and wow
Read more

Ball Bush

-
Image
Two weeks ago, my son developed a major sinus drip. The poor child has apparently inherited the health issues of my lactose intolerant, respiratorily-challenged (is that even a word?) family and had started that annoying snorting noise that all sinus suffers make and which I absolutely detest. I hate to administer medicines (they call me Bush woman for a reason) but had to resort to over the counter meds to stave off any dripage into his lungs. Well, old Bajans have a saying," God don't bring, but he sends " which kinda loosely translates as whatever your needs, they will be met from even unexpected sources, and such was the case with this situation. I stepped out (Bajan parlance meaning I went out for a brief while on an errand!) and on my return I found my partner sitting in the verandah - a custom which many have relegated- but we still like to sit out and people watch, speak to the neighbours and exchange pleasantries with passers-by. Well, my partner was sitting ou
Read more

Bush Tea

-
Image
All week I have found myself gathering herbs for bush tea. I grew up on bush teas! I don't know about you but growing up I hardly ever visited a doctor outside of vaccine schedules. Bush teas were our cleansers, healers, tonics, nourishment and much more. They were also a part of our culture. When we had colds we were instructed to pick cerasee, mosquito bush, soursop and pear (avocado) leafs. For stomach aches, we had ginger, bayleaf, aloes or sweet basil. Heads were wrapped in oil leafs (castor oil plant) for headaches or rubbed with coconut oil for head colds. We drank fitweed, flower fence, lemongrass and a host of other "cooling teas". With development, a lot of our local bushes are all but gone and very hard to find, so when I come across an old familiar bush I make a point of bringing cuttings or saplings home to transplant. Today I am so happy to have a few essential Bajan bushes in my yard.     Cerasee is definitely a must have bush despite its
Read more