Travel Photo Thursday: Holy Thursday

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

I’ve been wanting to do a church/religious themed post for a while and since today is Holy Thursday, I thought it’d be the perfect time to do so.

Jamaicans are perhaps the most contrary people on earth. We have the distinction of having the most churches per square mile as well as the most bars per capita. Only 21% of the 2.7 million people who live here claim to have no religious affiliation. Of the 79% remaining, Protestants are in the majority but there are also Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Rastafarians, Buddhists, Bahá’is, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Brethrens.  Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter Monday and Christmas are among the national holidays that are observed.

Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, most of us will put on our Sunday best and fill our churches just like we do at Christmas and next weekend, we’ll jump carnival. You know where to find us the rest of the time – in bars!

Sacred Heart Church, Seaford Town
Sacred Heart Church, Seaford Town
Sacred Heart Church, Seaford Town
Sacred Heart Church, Seaford Town
Sacred Heart Church, Seaford Town
Sacred Heart Church, Seaford Town
Anglican church, Bath, St. Thomas
Anglican church, Bath, St. Thomas
Anglican church, Seaford Town
Anglican church, Seaford Town

This is my submission to this week’s Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday series. Be sure to check out other photo and story entries on their website.

I’m also submitting this post to Friday Daydreamin’ on the RWeThereYetMom? site. Head on over to see enjoy more travel photos.

53 comments on “Travel Photo Thursday: Holy Thursday”

  3. ha! Sounds a lot like Puerto Rico: We’ll be naughty all year, but be the most religious on Holy Week. Although I think this is more universal than anything, sp in Latin America and the Caribbean, where religion still plays a big role, even if we don’t practice it daily

  4. ha! Sounds a lot like Puerto Rico: We’ll be naughty all year, but be the most religious on Holy Week. Although I think this is more universal than anything, sp in Latin America and the Caribbean, where religion still plays a big role, even if we don’t practice it daily.

  6. What a beautiful and timely topic for this week’s TPThursday. Makes me want to attend a service at one of those wonderful looking Anglican churches. We love visiting churches on our travels. . .they seem to be the root of history of so many places.

  7. Thanks, Jackie! Yes, it does stir something looking at these old churches. They really have done a great job keeping the history of the communities they serve.

  14. I love the look of that church’s old stonework combined with the palm trees, Marcia. Some interesting facts here, too, especially about churches and bars. I guess that’s what you call a balanced social life!

  15. Absolutely the perfect time for a religious post. Very interesting stats about churches and bars. Church, carnival, bars — sounds good. Happy Easter, Marcia!

  16. Interesting to learn that there are so many churches and bars in Jamaica. I love the photos of the churches – they’re much different than most churches I’ve seen.

  17. I’m not religious, but I do like visiting churches and spiritual places in the countries I visit. It’s so interesting to see how different things are everywhere. Great pics!

  19. Very appropriate post for this week, Marcia. I love the architecture on those Anglican churches. So interesting about the churches and bars. I guess you have to go somewhere after church services, right? =)

  22. Nice photos. You’re lucky digital photography’s the in thing. Pretty expensive to buy as many film as the pictures you take. There’s something about the Anglican architecture I like. Maybe because it’s an image that looks like it could be on a postcard that I’d want to keep or even paint. And the more I looked at it, the structure, coloring reminded me of the first hotel I stayed at in Germany. Matter of fact, the church near the hotel rang its bell every hour. Yeah, that must the reason I like it.

  24. You know, you’re so right. If I had to pay to develop these, they’d probably be still in the can! Digital photography has opened a new world for us and we’ve adapted so quickly, we hardly think about the old days of film camera anymore. Well, I did when I was moving as I found about a dozen rolls of 35 mm film in the last days of packing. If I’d had time, I would have put it on eBay.
    These churches are postcard pretty. I was very disappointed to hear that they’re not ringing the bells at my church anymore — they used to do it 15 mins before service started. Bell ringing is an art and apparently all the old guys who used to do it have faded away and with fewer young men attending church, there probably wasn’t someone willing or able to take over.

  30. Thanks, Sabrina, glad you like the photos. I’m not particularly religious either but churches and spiritual places resonate very deeply. Maybe it’s remembering childhood memories.

  31. Yes, it’s interesting. These 3 churches were probably built around the same time — at least they look like they were. Cut stone must have been very popular then, not so anymore.

  35. Actually surprised to learn that 21% of people are not religious. Interesting how religion and the bar life can goo hand in hand.
    I’m not a religious type though I do appreciate wonderful church architecture and have been taking my fair share of shots down here in the American south where there seem to be one heck of a lot of churches.

  38. The last photo is a really pretty church! I haven’t been to Jamaica, but I know the Brazilians have a similar way of combining church and bars 🙂

  40. Enchanting photos, I like the structure of the Anglican Church in Seaford Town. I just wish I could travel as much as you do. Thanks for the share!

  42. The photos of Sacred Heart Church remind me of churches made of stone or coral that I’ve seen on Maui and Kauai. As far as the number of churches equaling the number of bars, that seems to be the case in lots of smaller towns in the U.S.

  44. I also come from a very religious country, and we have 365 churches and chapels for half a million people!

  50. Those pictures of the church made me wistful for village life again… Hope your Easter was spirit filled. 😉 I can’t believe its been so long!

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