Lifespan of a Chennette

On a recent visit to the Federation of St Christopher and Nevis (better known as St Kitts and Nevis), we took a whirlwind drive around Nevis, where I was impressed by the gardens, greenery and preservation of the old colonial buildings and plantations. More about that in a later post I hope.

We didn’t really stop anywhere, despite the urgings of our driver, because we were short on time and needed to catch the ferry back to St Kitts for an evening appointment. But we did pause briefly at the Golden Rock Inn, one of the former plantations, restored beautifully and run as a luxurious hotel.

The driver parked under this tree, and I stood up taking photos of the cloud and sky, the lovely branches, those interesting tufts of…cotton…silk cotton…I looked at my watch – 12, on the dot.

Me: “uhm, driver? what kind of tree is this?”
Driver: “Silk cotton, ma’am.”
Me, a little louder: “You parked us under a silk cotton tree at NOON?”

By this time, the rest of my group was back in the vehicle and looking out at me – what’s the problem?

Sigh.

Now, I am not really superstitious, but still, I thought everyone knew to stay away from silk cotton trees, not just at midnight, but noon too, or jumbie will follow you. I explained this to the Jamaicans and Trinis in the bus and not a one seemed to know about this. What have people been learning??

Jumbies are supposed to live in these trees, which is why people shy away from cutting them down for fear of releasing evil spirits or suffering some supernatural revenge. I can distinctly remember my Ma, my mpaternal grandmother telling us, late at night on her porch, about how a soucouyant becomes a soucouyant by going round a silk cotton tree…and probably some other steps…I am fuzzy on the details.

What superstitions do you know about the silk cotton tree?