Andre Jebbinson, Staff Reporter

Kadeen Briscoe of Little Angels Kreative Arts Centre, St. Catherine, won first place (Class 2: ages 7-9) as the Jonkunnu character (Pitchy-Patchy) at the Children's Jonkunnu costume competition held at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre last year. - Andrew Smith/Photography Editor

You will know it is Christmas when all the merriment slated for the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre on Saturday, December 9 gets underway at 10:00 a.m.

Over 150 students from around 30 schools will get together in the theatre to reminisce and participate in the Children's Jonkunnu and School's Mento Band Competition.

"Kids today are losing touch. One of the things we are trying to preserve is elements of our culture that came out of our traditions," said Renée Robinson, director of planning and programming at Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC). "Mento bands are slowly turning into something we see only on the hotel circuit. We want to change that."

A distinctive characteristic of the folk form is the costumes that the dancers wear. These include: Pitchy-Patchy, Horse Head, Belly Woman, Set Girl, 'Koo-Koo' or Actor Boy, Jack in the Green, Devil and many others. In the Children's Jonkunnu Competition, group and individual entries are placed according to age classes, from which they are judged at both levels on criteria of costume and performance.

According to Robinson, the day will start with the children's costume competition and will be followed by adult and mento band competitions.

Not familiar

"We want them to show the children how it is really done. They might still have it out of the Corporate Area but the city children might not be familiar with it," Robinson said.

She said that while the event will be held in Kingston, there will be participants from all corners of Jamaica. Through workshops and seminars, the JCDC has been teaching children how to make costumes and adults to play instruments. Robinson said that many of the bands in the competitions were non-existent until the commission started out with the programme.

Jonkunnu originated during slavery when the slaves made the best use of the free period to entertain themselves by forming bands and dressing up in various costumes. Along with a music band usually made up of gumbay drums, banjo, grater and fife, they would roam the land entertaining both Great House and slave quarters and gaining some small payment for their trouble - money, food or liquor.

Funding is an ever-present problem with the JCDC, but the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund will offset some of the cost of staging the event. This will be added to the alotted amount from the Ministry of Tourism, Entertainment and Culture. The event started in 2002 and has been on the calendar since.