It was great last week to see the children involved in heritage week activities organised by their schools. And as much as the parents might have complained that it is tedious work to find costumes for their little ones to participate in the various school heritage parades, there was many a mother who visited the dressmaker to commission bandana dashikis and skirts.

But it wasn't just our traditional Jamaican costumes that were on display. We rooted around in closets for Chinese silk pyjamas and miniature Nehru jackets. Many a beach sarong were transformed into saris for little girls, and that treasured souvenir Mexican hat found its way onto a little boy's head despite his parents' nervousness at having it out of sight for a day. There was even one little boy of Lebanese descent who showed up in an African robe with skull cap to match.

We all searched for something that could be made into a heritage costume as we revisited our roots and, as a result, our little boys and girls - if only for a few hours - truly demonstrated our "Out of many, One people" national motto. We took photographs of our costumed children for our memory books and raced through their school's exhibition of old coal stoves and more ancient cooking implements; old stamps and old coins; glanced at plastic-wrapped plates of our native dishes of ackee and salt fish, blue drawers and sweet potato pudding; we revisited pictures of our national heroes and national symbols; and stood impatiently listening to the mento band play and story tellers weave and go roun' - all the while imagining the traffic outside getting worse and worse while we waited.

Students at RJR Basic School dressed earlier this year in the national costumes of the varying countries whose peoples have settled in Jamaica. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

Heritage Week, I've noticed, has turned into a four-day mobilisation to see who can get out of town first to beat the rush to the country and to the airport. By the time Friday afternoon rolls around, work has ground to a halt and we're making sure we have enough suntan lotion to last the weekend - the last thing on our minds is why we got the holiday in the first place.

If you have any "down time" amidst wining and dancing and liming away this long Heroes weekend, take a moment to reflect on what we're really supposed to be celebrating: Our heritage. An easy way to do it is to thumb through Olive Senior's Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage. It's a fantastic compendium of all things Jamaican. Mind you, at $4,200 it's a little expensive. But if you have any access to the Amazon book retailer you might get a slightly used one for far less. It is certainly a title that should be in every school library and on everyone's book shelf at home.

First published in 2003, the encyclopedia is Olive Senior's most ambitious exploration of Jamaican culture and society. From "abeng" to "zombi" the nearly 1,000 bits of folklore and the like provide educational and entertaining information and reminders about all things Jamaican. Were it not for the archival photograph in the book, many of us might have forgotten that there was the larger-than-life Tom Cringle's Cotton Tree that, as school children, we used to go on endless field trips to visit.

Entries in the book range from the hilarious to the questionable and everything in between. A producer I know, who relies heavily on the book for answers on Jamaica's history, raised an eyebrow when reading the section on "Goats". Therein Ms Senior states that: "The raising of goats has, in recent times, been given a boost by the rise of Rastafari; Rastas do not eat pork, preferring goat's flesh," she states. Well, that should be very good news to all the goat farmers out there.

On the lighter side, I've learned that when we say "if a lik yu, yu fene", "fene" is not something we made up. "Fene" actually comes from the word "fenay" which means to feel direct physical illness and show its effects or, more vaguely, to feel intense pain. So this weekend, while your children are busy doing little else but having a great time at your expense you might remind them that "if you neglect to do your homework tonight, when you go back to school you are going to fenay".

One interesting entry, which arose from the oral tradition and was part of a popular game, is the Jamaica Alphabet created and published as playing cards by Aston W Gardner in 1897. I plan on using it as a little learning game for my four year-old while I'm stuck in miles of traffic this weekend. By the time we get back into Kingston, all his memory of the alphabet learned from Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel will have been erased and replaced by this:

A fe Asoonoo, koo how him tan!
B fe Backra - very bad man!
C fe Puss, him name Mariah,
D fe Duppy, fe him yeye tan like fire.
E fe Eel, live in Ferry,
F fe fiddle, play sweet merry.
G fe Governor, live in King's House,
H fe Old Harbour, place poor like church mouse.
I is a gentleman, very well bred,
J fe John Crow, him have a peel head.
K fe Kalaloo, sinting sweet when it bwoil!
L fe Lizard, fe him tail 'pwoil.
M fe Monkey, koo him face!
N fe Nana, fe him cap trim wid lace.
O fe Oliphant, koo him mout'!
P fe Pattoo, night time him come out.
Q fe quattie - beg you one Massa, please,
R fe Ratta - tiptoe pon cheese.
S fe Sinake, live in a grass,
T fe Toad, forrad and fas'.
U is me Uncle, Him I'm gwine to see,
V fe Vervaine, boil very sweet tea.
W, X, Y - 'top - me figget!
Z fe Zebedee, a men' him net.

Executive Class

Gardens with Gravel

Death to the Mullet!