Sunsets, Rum, Sand and Gizzadas 97 Days in Negril

[Bnewb]

Then we noticed that the roadway, on both sides, was lined with small brown paper bags sitting upright on the ground and spaced about twenty feet apart. The bags were half filled with beach sand and atop the sand were the remains of burned down candles. It was odd. We couldn’t figure out what they were for. The sacks lined the roadside from the Shell station all the way out past the Texaco. I asked one of the pump attendants at the Texaco about the paper bags.

She explained that someone had been killed on that stretch of road the day before in an accident. In the evening, the local residents lined the road with paper bags and lit the candles. Then they paraded up and down the road, played music and sang. So the bags had been part of a roadside memorial and vigil for the accident victim, Jamaican style.

Interesting...I've never personally seen the paper bags placed immediately after an accident...but just for further info...

The paper bags with the candles placed inside line a section of the road(usually) heading up to the location of a Wake. It's done in memory of that person's life & offers direction to the celebration/wake of that person's life for that evening.

[smith744]

Interesting...I've never personally seen the paper bags placed immediately after an accident.......

the *custom* seems to vary.

but just for further info

i recall a couple years ago,
the day after
a female BeachesSandyBay employee
was run-down & killed on the BeachRoad.

her co-workers put loooooooooooooong row of bagged-candles along the roadside (the following night)

'twas a pretty sight, too

long line of glowing paper bags

with a nice Negril sunset in the background