Page "Nevis" Paragraph 42

The Christmas Sports included a form of comedy and satire based on local events and gossip.

They were historically an important part of the Christmas celebrations in Nevis, performed on Christmas Eve by small troupes consisting of five or six men accompanied by string bands from different parts of the island.

One of the men in the troupe was dressed as a woman, playing all the female parts in the dramatizations.

The troupes moved from yard to yard to perform their skits, using props, face paint and costumes to play the roles of well-known personalities in the community.

Examples of gossip about undesired behaviour that could surface in the skits for comic effect were querulous neighbours, adulterous affairs, planters mistreating workers, domestic disputes or abuse, crooked politicians and any form of stealing or cheating experienced in the society.

Even though no names were mentioned in these skits, the audience would usually be able to guess who the heckling message in the troupe's dramatised portrayals was aimed at, as it was played out right on the concerned person's own front yard.

The acts thus functioned as social and moral commentaries on current events and behaviours in the Nevisian society.

Abrahams theorises that Christmas Sports are rooted in the pre-emancipation Christmas and New Year holiday celebrations when the enslaved population had several days off.