A Few of Our SITI Girl Favorite Things

The Virgin Islands is imbued with the spirit of giving and community, especially during the holidays. During this season, loved ones come home to enjoy time together and embrace the beauty of our roots. You can expect that there will be a heated conversation over what pasta style is best for macaroni and cheese, who makes the best coquito, and which tart reigns supreme at the dessert table (guava, no questions asked). Let’s also remember the Virgin Islands is a cultural melting pot, so we are blessed to celebrate traditions from other Caribbean nations and countries. 

There is so much to look forward to during the holidays that it’s hard to sum it all up, but we’re going to try! Here are a few of our SITI Girl Virgin Islands favorite things!

Christmas Tree Lightings

Tree lighting ceremonies are a holiday tradition that grows grander as the years’ progress. What started as a simple community event, especially for the children, has become a holiday lights celebration with several locations and parties throughout the Virgin Islands.

The First Family of the US Virgin Islands hosts a Christmas tree lighting and children’s holiday party for the community on ST. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix.

The Crucian community has its own island Times Square with its annual Limpricht Park tree lighting ceremony. The event honors a community member and involves music from local musical icons Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights, food, quadrille dancing, and beautifully decorated and elaborate trees. Popular cruise ports, Havensight and Crown Bay Marina, host tree-lighting ceremonies inclusive of towering moko jumbies, a parade of the bands, vendors, and gifts for kids. 

These tree-lighting ceremonies have become the must-see events of the holiday season, giving the community a loving dose of glitz, glamour, and chances to celebrate. 

Traditional Dishes and Local Drinks

One of the most favorite things about the #SITIGirlVI holiday is the local drinks and traditional dishes that become abundant during the holidays. Now, as the cultural melting pot of the Caribbean, the Virgin Islands’ cuisine is infused with influences from other islands. If you search Caribbean holiday dishes, the Virgin Islands is not even honorably mentioned, but our culinary scene is just as robust.
Latin Inspired
Local foods that are a must during the holidays are moist and savory roast pork or pernil. Pernil is a staple to the Latinx communities and has made its way to the tables of Virgin Islanders. More Latinx-inspired influences include arroz con gandules, pasteles, and the most popular holiday drink, coquito.

Main Dishes

Families serve delicious oxtail or stew mutton and pineapple-glazed honey ham as an alternative to turkey. Oxtail is often attributed to Jamaican or Trinidad fare, but the Virgin Islands prepares a delectable dish to be rivaled. Baked macaroni and cheese, or macaroni pie as referenced in Barbados, St. Lucia, or Trinidad, is another staple that causes waves during the holidays. We were surprised that some Caribbean nations put mustard and ketchup in their dish, but we like that you love it. To end the conversations over which pasta style is best for your macaroni and cheese, any SHORT pasta that holds! #bloop

Local Drinks
Our favorite local drinks, defined by whose grandmother has the oldest recipe, are sorrel and ginger beer. These refreshing libations are an acquired taste, but when done right and chilled at the appropriate temperature, they become the most sought-after holiday beverages. Antigua and Jamaica are the most popular Caribbean nations for these drinks, but even Nigeria has similar versions. 

The Desserts
We’ll keep it clean and avoid the slander, but in these verbal streets, guava reigns supreme. Local desserts are the most argued about and revered local holiday dishes. Tarts, whose dough is more dense and crumbly than traditional flaky pie crusts, are the most conflict-driven fare but in good fun. This pastry has three primary flavors- guava, pineapple, and coconut, with guavaberry as a specialty flavor. The flavor and texture of the fillings are also not as syrupy as a pie; they are more like a filling paste. Nevertheless, we argue, fuss, and fight over the best flavor but love the camaraderie this annual conflict brings. This season, content creators have created tutorial videos targeted at their least-liked flavor; the outcome is comedic gold.

Black cake is a moist, dense, fruit and alcohol-filled cake known by one thing- how long the fruit mix has been steeping in the alcohol concoction. This cake is a must-have around the holidays. The sweet potato pudding is a favorite of ours, but only sometimes seen. This dish uses Japanese sweet potatoes, not yams, as most recipes call for. It’s also noted for its spice-filled aroma and crumbly crust top. It is a more complex dish to pull off, but when it arrives, it is welcomed!

It’s the Music for We

Soca and calypso fill the air with holiday splendor, but quelbe and scratch bands have a special place in the hall of fame of Virgin Islands holidays. Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights are culture bearers, spreading the sounds of Virgin Islands quelbe worldwide. Young and seasoned know the lyrics to Guavaberry, and the signature “Good mawnin’, good mawnin’ will cause a chorus to erupt in call and response. Their rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas illicit the same response. More specifically, its most popular line at its climax emphasizes TKS’s loyalty and choice in the tart wars – ‘FIVE GUAVA TARTS!” Our legends have spoken, and as we sashay and twirl with our perfected quadrille two steps, we remember the days when these celebrations did not exist. 

Building gingerbread houses, puffy white winter snow scenes, family time around the fireplace and Christmas tree as the family drinks eggnog or a variation of these images are often the scenes we think of when we talk about the holidays. But that’s not the vision in the Virgin Islands and other Caribbean nations. Our holidays are filled with family activities, locally and regionally specific dishes, celebrations, and fashion decisions that have become ingrained in the fabric of the season as traditional. We are reminded of the cultural importance of holding space for our traditions and being open to creating new ones.