Sunday in Barbados is not just like any other day of the week. Bajans don’t care if Tuesday come Thursday but Sunday has to come Sunday.
Sunday is a reset day for Bajans and it truly starts their week.
So what are some of the things that Bajans expect every Sunday like clockwork?
1. A Sunday meal
This is usually a home-cooked spread. At its most generic, this comprises rice and peas, macaroni pie, baked chicken and cole slaw. However, no matter what the spread, for hardcore, true, true Bajans rice and peas must be included. The only time this meal does not have to be home-cooked is when Bajans venture to a hotel or restaurant buffet to get the same spread. There were days when the line for Brown Sugar Restaurant was nearly in Bay Street. IYKYK
2. A newspaper
We are grateful for the readers who consume their news online via Loop News of course, but in Barbados, there are still those who must buy a Sunday paper. The paper is up to $3 now but that means nothing as people leave home with their $3 set aside for the paper man or paper woman or the gas station. For many churchgoers, there is collection for the Lord, but there is also after-church snocone and paper money. These are all separate.
3. The Obituaries
This follows on from having to get a newspaper. Many Bajans, old or young, are now in the ‘Let me see who dead first’ era of their loves. These folk open the paper at the middle page and go straight to the obits or obituaries to see who they know. It’s not a proud tradition but Bajans who do this, real recognise real. After this it’s a day of calls and conversations starting with “You know so-and-so dead or passed away? That hit me so hard! Ohhhh Ahnva know he did sick.”
4. The ice cream truck
Bajans, especially the ‘Feel for something sweet’ after lunch crews, keep their ears peeled for the ice cream truck jingle all day. For some, when they hear it is a mad dash for cash around the house, others have the ice cream money stashed under an ornament or a mat or under a bra strap allocated and waiting. For others, it spurs a mad dash out the house and down the gap because for some reason, the van passes the main but never turns through their gap or track. You do what you gotta do. Right?
5. The bread van
The sun is setting and then this van gets to honking. “If you want bread for school, the van coming. Go and buy what yuh want.” Then some start calling with their sweet tooth, “I would really eat a curnt slice or jam puff or turnova now doa.” Either way, the bread van brings out the community on Sunday evening when he parks along the gap, by the most popular house. At the bread van people see neighbours they don’t usually see, exchange pleasantries and also ask ‘You know so-and-so from cross de road dead?’
You just gotta love Bajans and our culture!
