Christmas on Main Street

After happy hour at Frenchman's Cay on Friday, HB and I headed into downtown Road Town to check out Christmas on Main Street.

Main Street is the major shopping street in Road Town. It parallels Waterfront on the opposite side from DeCastro, and many of the cafes, clothing shops, and the bookstore are along Main Street. So, too, are the former post office, and many of the J.R. O'Neal Buildings, some of the oldest surviving buildings in the BVIs. Christmas on Main Street is an annual street festival, involving local artisans, musicians, and restaurants.

We wandered through the vendors tents for a little while, checking out their wares and smelling the west indian food on offer at the food tents before ending up at the square in front of the old post office, where a stage was set up in front of a giant, lighted Christmas tree. On stage, school groups were performing Christmas carols and religious songs, and doing synchronized dances.

The children singing and dancing in the square definitely helped amplify my Christmas spirit, but probably the best part of the whole evening was checking out the secondary stage, where an Afro-Caribbean band performed a BVI version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." As with many things that happen in the BVI, the lyrics to the adapted "12 Days of Christmas" are not to be found by googling. As far as the internet is concerned, we witnessed a wholly original performance. The only gifts in the song that  HB and I came close to understanding were the fifth day (five guava plants?) and the first day (a something and a guavaberry).