Powa In De Blood
Chimborazo is an unusually quaint village in the Scotland District of St. Joseph, Barbados. Chimborazo is on one of the highest elevations of Barbados and boasts some of the most enchanting vistas looking Eastward towards the Atlantic. Villagers know each other well and can immediately tell if someone is from outside of the village. Villagers greet each other as they meet, shout out a greeting as they pass each other’s homes, or honk their car horns when they pass a home if they know the occupants.
But Chimborazo had no shortage of unique characters either. For example, there was Samda, a beautiful dark-skinned young man with unusual family features. There was Totting the bus conductor and Bo Roachford another well-known character with an interesting history of his name. And there was Mick, a troublesome character who was a planter, drank heavily, and terrorized the villagers whenever he was drunk.
Mick’s favorite terror event on Sundays was to get drunk and then wander into the little Pilgrim Holiness Church across from the Branch house. Mick seemed to thrive on terrorizing the saints each Sunday. He usually waited until the Praise and Testimony service to accost each of the saints who testified about their sins. The church members dreaded Sunday worship because they knew how things would turn out. Each Sunday service, the Pastor had to forcibly remove Mick from the building. Mick would exit the church cursing and slobbering.
During the month of April, the church planned several special services. The first week of April was Men’s Day followed by Women’s Day the next Sunday. Mick avoided the Men’s Day service, but decided ahead of time he would attend the Women’s Day service in his usual way. He loved harassing the women.
Women’s Day service was a beautifully planned event. During the week the women came and decorated the church. They handmade floral garlands and hung them in the church. They cleaned every nook and cranny, polished the church pews, and ensured they had enough red and white carnations for each of the women attending. White carnations if the woman’s mother was deceased, and red carnations if the woman’s mother was still alive. Every woman was expected to wear a white dress and they were to be seated on the right side of the church.
Sunday arrived on a beautiful morning in Chimborazo. The excitement was in the air as the ladies from Chimborazo and other neighboring churches arrived for the Women’s Day celebration. Every woman was greeted at the door and received either a red or white carnation. They all filed in wearing their best white frocks and took their seats on the right side of the church. There was great excitement in anticipation of a beautiful service.
The service began. The music was penetrating as the drummer guided the songs into a calypso rhythm. The women pounded on their tambourines, the guitarists strummed to the melodies, and the church folk raised the roof in song. The singing and dancing were so vibrant that the sound of the church services travelled to the surrounding villages. The worship and praise session ended and the testifying event immediately followed. Right on cue, Mick arrived at the church in character. Drunk, slobbering, and swearing at the female saints.
Mick walked to the front of the church and began his usual harassment of the ladies. Many of the women members of the church were afraid of Mick and what he might do, so they rarely confronted him. But on this women’s day, Mick made a serious miscalculation. Many of the guests were asked to sit in the front pews and they had no knowledge of Mick and his antics. Just as Mick started his usual harassment, one of the visiting ladies, stood up, signaled to the drummer, and started singing Power In the Blood. Without hesitation she swung her Bible and caught Mick across his right ear, which sent him to the ground stretched out in front of the first pew.
While Mick was laid out on the ground, all the ladies in the first pew spontaneously stood up, sang the chorus, “Powa In De Blood” while they kicked him under the pew to the next group of ladies waiting. The second pew of ladies spontaneously stood up and held Mick down until they reached the chorus again, “Powa In De Blood”, then kicked him to the next pew. Mick didn’t realize the song had so many verses. He was kicked and rolled under ten pews before reaching the end of the church.
The ladies in the last pew grabbed Mick and eventually threw him out of the church once he reached the last pew. By this time the men on the other side of the church were harmonizing with the ladies, clapping, and applauding the ladies’ efforts. The commotion drew a large crowd from around the village who joined in the celebration of the silencing of this lamb. Mick, bruised and humiliated stumbled over to the Branch house to get some medical attention.
Mr. Branch took him in the yard and washed off his wounds. He poured some alcohol and iodine on his cuts, and applied bandages to the open areas. Mick looked like a human patchwork quilt with the many bandages on his head and arms.
Once Mick could speak, he said to Mr. Branch, “I sorry fuh wha I do. Ya tink ya cud gimme sumting to eat?”
Mr. Branch brought out a can of sardines, some soda biscuits, and some sorrel.
“Thanks Mr. Branch”, he said, “can ya pass de hot sauce?”
Story by: Stan Brooks