And Still I Rise

This is a word that enthralls and yet fills one with fear,especially when you are a small child.For example,my 7 year old neighbour usually sleeps at my house but the last few nights she did not show claiming because of jumbies she was scared to come by herself.Many superstitious beliefs have been passed down through the years from one generation to another and at the centre of these is the jumbie which has shaped the attitudes and lives of many.The Jumbie and Jumbie stories are common features of Caribbean life. However,the telling of Jumbie stories is fast becoming another lost art as too many other things are vying for attention.For my non Caribbean readers a jumbie is the spirit of a dead person who can be either evil or good.

Jumbies have a host of colourful names like jack o lantern which is supposed to be this ball of fire that one sees moving in the night.Then there is the soucouyant or heg whose mission is to suck the blood of its victims.As legend goes the soucayant takes off its skin to perform this act and a sure fire way of catching one is to put pepper or salt on the removed skin.

In areas where there is an absence of street lighting and little vehicular traffic it is said that jumbies abound,and it would take more than an average brave person to get home after midnight without company. The older folks use this to explain why the younger folk don't encounter as many jumbies as they did in times gone by.I knew there had to be a reason.Older folks also claim that in their many encounters with jumbies, there are certain things that jumbies don't do.

For example,Jumbies don't go over cliffs.So if you are being chased by a Jumbie then you should run over a cliff. Never mind that running over the cliff can result in your death.Jumbies do not cross a river.But no victims of a Jumbie chase ever stopped on the other side to verify this claim.One should not throw water out of a window lest he or she wets a jumbie.It is said that a wet Jumbie is a very angry jumbie.A child should not cry at night or it may lose its voice to a Jumbie.And of course there are the stories of being ridden by a Jumbie.When this is happening one becomes helpless unable to even move or call out for help.

There are still a lot of people who believe in jumbies and will swear that they realy do exist.Some claim to have seen them and insist on backing into their doorways so that umbies would not follow them inside.On the flip side,many accidents have been blamed on the poor Jumbies.For instance Jumbies have pushed many a drunk over cliffs.No doubt at all that the alcoholic state contributes in any way.