As slaves, our descendants were not allowed to attend church. But, they were given Sunday as a rest day. On this day, their Masters would attend church and the slaves were left up to their own devices. So, they decided to keep church also. These ‘services’ consisted mainly of singing, drumming & dancing.
This changed somewhat when the Bible was first introduced by two black pastors in 1770 that were freed and took up their homes in Jamaica.
They were Baptists and preached and read to the slaves from the Bible. They eventually setup schools and taught the slaves to read so they could read and understand the bible for themselves.
This blossomed into a strong Christianity faith.
To today’s date, Jamaicans have remained predominantly Christians. However, this has been broken off into many different denominations such as:
- Presbyterian,
- Pentecostal,
- Methodist,
- Moravians
- Anglican,
- Church of God,
- Seventh Day Adventist
- Seventh Day Baptist and
- Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The one constant in all these congregations however is Christianity.
With the mixture of many cultures in the island, other non traditional religions were were introduced.
These include:
- Rastafarianism
Named after Ras Tafari, an African Prince who was eventually crowned King. This is a religion that originated here in Jamaica with strong African roots.
One of the defining attributes of this belief is the non cutting of the hair. The emphasis on healthy eating and the smoking of marijuana are other notables. - Judaism
This is based on a belief in God and Abraham whose life and relationship with God is recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible. - Revivalist/Pocomania
These religions are heavily rooted in African rituals Singing, drumming, and the calling on spirits are attributes of these faiths. - Hinduism
This came about by the employment of indentured labour from Asia, primarily India.
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