Bermuda is a mixture of cultural and culinary traditions especially during Christmas, but so many of our old customs have been lost over time. Whatever happened to angel’s hair, and Bermuda cedar wreaths? In these health-conscious times does anyone still even eat souse?

These are some of the questions writer Roma Lewis posed to one of the Island’s seniors, 77-year-old Dorethea Tucker. Mrs. Tucker talked about life in Bermuda as a child growing up on Tank Hill in Tuckers Town with her parents and older siblings. The grandmother of ten, shares with The Royal Gazette <$>some of the things she experienced during the Christmas holiday as a child.

Because many residents could not afford to purchase an imported tree back then, Mrs. Tucker recalled how many would go out and cut down cedar trees instead: “I remember picking out a tree as a child and checking on it every now and then praying no one else would take it. A week before Christmas, my father would go and cut down the tree and bring it home...the smell of cedar would travel throughout the house, and we would have cedar logs burning in the fire place.”

Combined with the delicious scents of rich cakes, cassava pie, baked ham and turkey, one had all of the makings of a traditional Bermuda Christmas. When children woke up on Christmas morning, they would find their homes freshly painted, thanks to the efforts of their fathers. “Back then they wanted everything to be new on Christmas morning and it was,” Mrs. Tucker continued.

Everything eaten was home grown and this included pork, chicken, and turkey as well as cassava, and fruit and vegetables. During the early part of the summer people would start to fatten up their pigs and young turkeys were purchased so that by Christmas they would weigh in excess of 15 to 25 pounds, she recalled.

“Those turkeys would chase us up and down the yard. They were mean,” Mrs. Tucker added with a broad smile.

Everyone always had lots to eat on Christmas Day: “Many people did not own an icebox so they would kill the animals on Christmas Eve and share the meat with their neighbours.”

Cassava was introduced to the Island during the 1930’s and 1940’s by West Indian natives who traditionally used the root to make bread and bammy, a thick cake similar to cassava pie. It also was eaten as a vegetable. Mrs. Tucker was born during an era when people did not to waste anything and everyone used their creativity to supplement for the things they could not afford.

Decorating the tree was an example of how people carried on traditions with a creative flair: “My mother taught us how to make ornaments out of Christmas cards by folding them in half, then cutting them into the shape of a candle with a little handle to hang on the tree. We also blew up balloons and strung popcorn to put on our tree.

All through the year everyone would save their shillings to put into the meter so that we could light up our tree.”

Back then, many people would cook their cakes and pies in the chimney. Dining room tables would be laden with fresh home-grown fruit baskets containing some of the biggest and sweetest Bermuda oranges and grapefruits. Grape vines were plentiful and lemons and limes could often be found on the table during the holidays in Bermudian homes.

Mrs. Tucker explained that people always set the dining room, or kitchen tables, on Christmas Eve, hanging holly all over the doors and tables, and of course, it was not Christmas unless each place was set with a colourful bottle of mineral.

“After Christmas we would wash the bottles turn them over and save them for Easter Sunday,” she fondly recalled. One custom that Bermudians held dear was the spirit of giving during Christmas.

“Everybody gave and there were a lot of people who had gardens who would give eggs and cuts of meat to their neighbours. Even the shopkeepers would get in on the holiday spirit, people would start shopping in November.

They would pay on their items or join gift clubs or Christmas clubs.

Those who did not have the rest of the year would usually have during Christmas,” Mrs. Tucker stated.

According to the mother of three, everyone would sing carols and Christmas songs on Christmas Eve: “The Ex-Artillery band would come through the neighbourhood playing Christmas carols or people would go from house to house singing Christmas carols. We would sing while we worked.

And on Christmas morning, “We sampled the pie and my mother would cook up fresh eggs, after which we would open our gifts.

“Apples and oranges were always good gifts and of course we would get pencils for school, new book bags, and if you were a girl maybe a doll.”

The tradition of visiting friends and relatives was one of the best traditions Mrs. Tucker favoured: “We would often visit our relatives and friends or they would come to our home on Christmas day. Children would play all sorts of games: checkers, cards, fix puzzles and play pick up sticks or jacks.”

On Boxing Day, which originated in Great Britain along with Christmas pudding, and mincemeat pies, Mrs. Tucker said that festivities continued.

“Of course we had the gombeys on Boxing Day but as a child I was very afraid of the gombeys. Once when I was being approached by one particularly scary looking individual dressed as a gombey and I literally passed out,” Mrs. Tucker confessed with a laugh.

When asked what she enjoyed most about the holidays as a child, Mrs. Tucker remarked that she “loved going to the various church programmes to take part in the customary plays and concerts.”

She smiled as she remembered how she and her siblings would go just to receive gifts from the different congregations. “People would give us gifts for things like perfect attendance throughout the year, or for best behaviour of a boy or girl.”

The thing she said she found most disappointing about Bermuda today is the fading tradition of families getting together during the holidays. “People don’t get together as much, families don’t know each other. Cousins, nieces and nephews, and even brothers and sisters, do not socialise during the holidays as they used to.”

Mrs. Tuckers continues her customary Christmas tradition of spending time with friends and family and going to church. She said she believes that our society is based on traditional values, and insists that once we get back to our old traditions, we will get back into our true holiday spirit.