Cassava, used to make our traditional Christmas speciality, was originally brought to Bermuda from the West Indies. In about 1616, the ship Edwin arrived with cassava to help feed the early settlers, and it was later written that they ground the cassava root, and made it into a batter with the eggs of wild birds and the meat from wild pigs. My inquiring mind questions how these English settlers would have known to prepare this highly poisonous root, unknown in England, or why we eat it at Christmas.

Cassava contains chemicals that can release cyanide into the body unless correctly prepared. It is a root vegetable which is drought-resistant and takes nine months to mature in some countries — but about 18 months in Bermuda. There are two types: the bitter, which is highly poisonous, and the sweet. Tapioca and farina are derivatives of cassava. Farina is often used by many families today, but many older Bermudians do not recall eating it at Christmas when they were growing up.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica in the name of the King of Spain and later returned to establish a permanent settlement. The Arawak Indians were already there and familiar with the preparation, uses and dangers of cassava, which was an important part of their diet. It was revered and considered the staff of life, but it was also used to terminate life under the unbearable treatment by their Spanish oppressors. They simply ate it raw and died by suicide.

This tells me that when the Edwin arrived in Bermuda in 1616 with cassava, it was with the knowledge derived from Tiano and Arawak Indians, who arrived in Jamaica from South America, and the enslaved Africans imported from West Africa where cassava was also a staple. This is likely how our use of cassava began — first in the making of bread when it was dried and converted into a flour. This was not bread as we know it today; it was a flat unleavened bread. In Jamaica, it is called bammy. I am also aware that pork was highly prized by the Arawaks and frequently a part of their diet. How we arrived at the cassava pie we eat today remains the big question and why it is served at Christmas is yet another mystery.

Susan Lloyd in her book, Sketches of Bermuda, describes eating and enjoying it in 1831.

As a child I remember the tedious, traditional Bermudian preparation of cassava. Thankfully, I was an observer and not a participant. There were large pans of the brown root soaking in water, followed by peeling, frequent washing and grating. This job fell to my Uncle Sidney and his wife, Celeste, in a ceremony performed every Christmas Eve. Now, I wonder, if it was as poisonous as they say, why were they not wearing rubber gloves? There was a large hook in a corner of my grandparents’ kitchen where the grated cassava was placed in a flour bag, tied and hung to drip into a bucket overnight. My grandmother rose well before the rest of the household to make the pie.

Who slaughtered, plucked and cooked the chickens, I do not know, and where the pork came from, I knew not, but it was always there and ready for three o’clock Christmas dinner. My grandmother always used pork and chicken in her pie, and so did my mother; however, when I married, we excluded the pork. My mother was horrified! She would arrive with pork broth, which I was required to add for additional flavour. Before refrigeration, the pie was made on Christmas Eve as the pork filling would “go off” and the pie sour. Fortunately, they tell me that winters were much colder then.

My late mother-in-law often told of the time when there was a shortage of cassava and the creative Bermudian housewife was forced to improvise. Some used cream of wheat while others used mashed Irish potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes.

Sylvia Courtney remembered hearing of similar events during the 1930s, but she felt it was related to finances. People who did not grow cassava used cream of wheat or whatever root vegetable they grew. I’m now confused, as she, as well as my friend, Ronnie Chameau, confess to enjoying the taste of chewing a little raw cassava. Mrs Courtney said it was good for whitening teeth, especially during the period when many people could not afford toothbrushes.

Although they are both very much alive, I personally am not prepared to take the risk.

When I consulted cassava-growing expert Steven Douglas, he confirmed that their stories are quite true, as in Bermuda today we use the sweet cassava. In fact, chickens eat it when the skin is peeled and scraped into his compost heap.

I had planned to write only on the history of cassava pie, but much of it seems a mystery and so I decided to include recollections of the Shepherd’s March, another event that occurred in Bermuda on Christmas Eve.

The Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds was founded in Britain on Christmas Day 1826. They were a group of like-minded people who banded together with the aim of financially assisting the sick, burying the dead and helping each other in times of distress, and promoting peace and goodwill to the human race. Members paid a small amount at regular intervals and wore regalia similar to that of the Freemasons.

Circa 1893, they were introduced to Bermuda under the name of the Ashton Unity Friendly Society #101. Its district secretary was Joseph J. Wilson, and over time many other Shepherd Lodges were formed to accommodate persons from all over Bermuda. There were men and women members, and they met either on Monday or Wednesday evenings. They wore black dress and the regalia was worn over the right shoulder across the chest and hit at the waist to the left hip. They marched to the beat of the Alexandria Band, which later became The North Village Band. The senior Shepherd’s crooks were gold metal and the junior Shepherd’s crooks were of wood. When they marched, they carried the Star of Bethlehem. A crook is a sturdy stick with a hook on one end, usually used to manage sheep.

By 1939, the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds disbanded, mainly because the members were ageing and then there was the war. Another reason relayed to me in hushed tones was that the men consumed too many rum toddies on the march and by the time they reached the church, all sense of decorum was lost and the Christmas service often unceremoniously disrupted.

Sylvia Courtney, born in 1929, is a most entertaining and interesting storyteller who recalled Christmas Eve when she was a child.

Members of the Shepherds Lodge, older people of Southampton and Warwick as well as most of the Raynor family would gather on Christmas Eve with their musical instruments on the lawn of her grandparents’ home, which is now to the rear of the Rubis Raynor’s Southampton service station. They put down a hat to collect funds and marched up and down and around the neighbourhood. After this, her grandfather, Eldon Steede Raynor, and her grandmother, Dorcas, would gather the grandchildren all dressed warmly and covered by blankets into the back of the family carriage drawn by two horses and driven by “Rocky” Raynor.

They drove from Southampton to attend the 4am Shepherds’ service at St Peter’s Church in St George’s. Although she was a little girl, Mrs Courtney remembered the drive taking them through Tom Moore’s Jungle and returned via a similar route back to Southampton at daybreak. I found this route puzzling until I remembered a story relayed to me by archdeacon emeritus Arnold Hollis. He recalled an entrance with a broken-down gate that led from the Harrington Sound Road to a public road, which ran behind the backyard of a house called “Cedarhurst”. The road exited by the Odd Fellows Hall located near Blue Hole Hill. This was the route to St George’s prior to the road we now know as Wilkinson Avenue.

In the 1980s, I interviewed members of the Lodge of the Ancient Shepherds. Some recollected events dating back to the 1920s.

The late Carl Smith remembered taking the last train from Smith Hill to St George’s at 11pm and wandered around “like an owl” until the 4am service at St Peter’s Church. Many sat around Outerbridge’s Grocery Store and people often offered them tea. Trains first ran from Hamilton to St George’s in December 1931.

The Shepherds, dressed in their regalia covered by warm coats, gathered at Slip Gate and marched to the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows Lodge at the foot of Rose Hill and on to St Peter’s Church for the 4am service. After the service, they marched to The Samaritan’s Lodge on Water Street for a repass. They were always home before “daylight struck”.

In Somerset, the lodge building, which no longer exists, was located on West Side Road near Ely’s Harbour. Because the march from the lodge to St James’ Church was so short, they gathered at 3am at the Manchester Unity Oddfellows Lodge and began the march at 4am to the water trough at Mangrove Bay, along Cambridge Road to St James’ Church. All over Somerset, there were house parties serving soup made from the bones of the various types of meat used to make the filling for the cassava pie. People were up the entire night.

The Salvation Army Band from Somerset Bridge played, but when many of the band members died the remaining members recruited volunteers. This eventually led to the formation of the Somerset Brigade Band. The band played While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks and various Christmas carols selected by the lodge. There were many delegates who joined the march representing other Shepherds’ Lodges. They all marched in full regalia.

It was always extremely cold and they were forced to wear hats, scarves, gloves and heavy coats over their regalia. The Shepherd who led the march carried a lamp resembling a star. He was always a married man who dressed in white. The “big shots” carried crooks often made by Lawson Lambert. Everyone wore hats, scarves, gloves and dressed in black under their heavy winter coats. There were juvenile members ranging in age from 9 to 15, and at 16 they became adult members. Many recalled people putting their Christmas puddings on to boil when they heard the Shepherds marching to St James’ Church. This Christmas service was always well attended and followed by a march to the lodge for breakfast.

The last Shepherds Service in Somerset was held at Allen Temple AME Church.

While researching for this article, I found this amusing report in The Royal Gazette of January 1912.

It reported that a thief paid a visit to the residence of John S. Darrell at Mount Wyndham and stole his fine fat Christmas turkey, which must have been so good a bird that the thief could not withstand the temptation to pay another visit a night or two later to steal the fat rooster awaiting participation in the cassava pie.

With thanks to Joy Wilson-Tucker, Lynn Tucker-Alban, Linda Abend and everyone who assists me with snippets of life in Old Bermuda.

To my husband, Lionel Simmons, who in all my writing, is my main research assistant and photograph restorer. Many, many thanks.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

• Cecille Snaith-Simmons is a retired nurse, historian, writer and author of The Bermuda Cookbook

References:

The Royal Gazette (January 4, 1912)

Traditional Jamaican Cookery (Norma Benghliat, 1985)

The Cooking of the Caribbean Islands (1970)

History of Friendly Societies UK