pickaninny Christmas

English

Alternative forms

  • piccaninny Christmas

Etymology

piccaninny (“black child”) +‎ Christmas. First attested in 1834.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpɪkənɪni ˌkrɪsməs/
  • enPR: pĭ’kənĭnē krĭs’məs

Noun

pickaninny Christmas (plural not attested) (now offensive)

  1. (Caribbean, obsolete) Easter (Christian feast).
    • 2004 [1873], Rev. William James Gardner, “A History of Jamaica”, in West Indian Studies, number 17, London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, →ISBN, page 99:
      Two or three days were given at Christmas and also at Easter, which the slaves called pickaninny Christmas.
    1. (by extension) Carnival (the period before lent).
      • 1999, Wallace W. Zane, Journeys to the Spiritual Lands, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, Vincentian Context, page 144:
        In St. Vincent, as late as the 1960s, Carnival was considered the children's Christmas—"pickaninny Christmas"  […]
  2. (Jamaica, derogatory, obsolete) Synonym of junkanoo.
    • 2003, Rough Guides, The Rough Guide to Jamaica, APA Publications, published 2015, →ISBN:
      Yet African musical traditions survived, most notably in the annual Jonkonnu masquerade parade, contemptuously dubbed "Pickaninny Christmas" by the whites.
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pickaninny,‎ Christmas.
    • 1937 December, L. Mell Glenn, “Our 'Pickaninny' Christmas Party”, in The Rotarian, volume 51, number 6, Rotary International, page 43:
      Ere Christmas of 1935 had arrived, the Rotary Club's Pickaninny Christmas Tree Party idea had so intrigued the community it was proposed that under-privileged Negro children from all sections of the county be invited to the second party.

References

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