Sí Trends

If singing, dancing, and having enough food to feed a whole barrio sound like your typical Christmas celebration, rest assured, you're not alone. Here our [Si] talents Ashakeda, Poju, Oveous, Zayda, and Omar Mazariego along with cubano rapper Pitbull talk about how Navidad is done in their homes.

[Sí] Trends: What are some of your Christmas traditions?
Omar Mazariego: Every year we go to the projects and spend Christmas with my aunt and my cousins in Bed-Stuy, [Brooklyn]. It's pretty cool, but you know how the PJs is. We be sneaking in presents in weird boxes and bags so that fools will think it's some groceries or some weak shit. The food we cook is usually turkey, lasagna, pernil (roast pork) and yellow rice with gandules (pigeon peas) in them.

Pitbull: Christmas I spend it with the family. Right now, I'm on the road doing a promo tour then a tour you know a bunch of s**t for this new album [The Boatlift] so Ima put everything off for Christmas and New Year's. Imaginate, Noche Buena when we open the gifts at 12'o'clock on the 24th as it turns the 25th. You gotta have el lechon of course, arroz con frijoles, family, dancing, music playing, telling jokes and that's what I think Christmas is all about.

Zayda: The greatest part of the holidays was that everybody would get together. We had a huge celebration on Christmas Eve where we would all gather at my grandparents' house in Connecticut. It was just an all out party: salsa playing, people drinking and eating, it was just a great experience and we used to look forward to that so much. One thing that we used to do is open one gift on Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day we would open the rest, but then we would also save one for January 6th [Día de los Reyes Magos].

Oveous: We used to have crazy house parties! My uncle always had a bunch of bottles of Mama Juana. He would open up a bottle of that and everyone would have to have a sip; once I reached 13 or 14 I had to drink it.

Ashakeda: We have all our relatives [over] and have a pot luck dinner. Back in the day we had dinner and dancing and the gifts were only for the kids, but ever since we got to the United States [from Puerto Rico], things are different. Before we didn't watch TV, we had the radio but not TV and now it's just eating and talking, and no dancing anymore, so for me it's boring. We have goat and coquito, the holiday drink.

Poju: We're first generation Jamaicans so we don't really have a lot of family out here so generally we keep it nice and low key. We always spend Christmas together, we always have breakfast and when we open our presents it's not like a free fall where everyone just goes nuts, it's a process; we go one-by-one and really take the time to appreciate our presents, and of course, there's the traditional Christmas dinner which is done Jamaican style!

[Sí] Trends: What are your favorites?
Oveous: I have like 47 cousins and we used to get together and it was so crazy! We used to have such a good time!

Poju: I'm of mixed heritage: my father's Chinese and my mom is Jamaican. I have a friend that does Kwanzaa and I really like how it reaches out to cultural values, you don't really see that a lot in our mass media because everything is based on consumerism, which really takes away from the essence of what Christmas is supposed to represent.

Zayda: Just the gathering of the family was a favorite of mine and we just have a blast together! One thing that was big in my family was always music, my grandfather's a musician, so it was always a tradition for him to be playing the guitar, or singing, or having a friend there playing the guitar while he sang.

Omar: My favorite part is being with the family. Can't really beat that.

[Sí] Trends: What are your least favorites?
Oveous: I hated cleaning up the Christmas tree, all the stuff that would fall of! I also didn't like certain foods they made us eat, like pasteles, and sancocho, that's the big shocker right there because I'm Dominican.

Poju: Never really been a fan of Christmas trees to be honest, so decorating the Christmas tree. My mom would call like "I have to go Christmas treeing!" and I would be like, "Oh well that's nice mom, congratulations."

Omar: My least favorite is when one of my family members gets too drunk and hurls before they can make it to the bathroom. Definitely not a good look. Every year we're surprised by who done it.

Zayda: Probably late night when all of them were drunk and somebody would get into an argument [laughs] that was the inevitable.

[Sí] Trends: Will you carry on those traditions?
Poju: As far as keeping it an intimate affair between family, that's definitely something that I always try to continue every year.

Omar: I'ma forever carry that tradition. Can't let my kids or they kids lose their identity which lies in the culture we were raised on. Hopefully the woman I marry feels the same way.

Zayda: Actually yeah, I just had a child for the first time this year and now that I have her it's almost as if that child within me has come alive again! I went all out this year with Christmas decorations all over the house and put a Christmas tree up. It's so beautiful to see her reaction.

Ashakeda: The only tradition I would like to keep is Día de los Reyes Magos because I would like my kids to know about that side of their culture since they're mixed.  

Oveous: I would hope to carry some of those traditions; I have to ask my uncle how to make some Mama Juana. The family is a little bit spread out now, but I would hope to do some of that stuff.