Dr. Lois Hassell-Habtes, former director of the Caribbean Chorale, remembers carolers on her family’s doorstep. “The singers would be accompanied by a scratch band. There might be a little banjo, guitar, washboards, dried gourds and bongos or some type of drum that could be carried. Virgin Islanders love their music. The songs would be a combination of hymns and folk tunes passed down through the generations.”

Refreshments were just as much a part of VI traditions as music. “When the carolers came to your house, you always served guavaberry rum along with a slice of sweet bread and ham,” says Dorothy Elskoe, founder of the Committee to Revive Our Culture.

The cue for the sweet treats would be the caroler’s refrain: “Good mornin’, good mornin’, ah come fo’ mi Guavaberry.”

The late, famous Virgin Islands composer, Bill La Motta, wrote this tune, known as the Guavaberry Song. According to the book, Virgin Islands Folk Songs, this song remains the most celebrated and cherished of the traditional holiday tunes because of the cultural importance attached to guavaberry liqueur. Hear it once, and the lilting melody and easily memorized words will play over and over in your mind.

A little bigger than a blueberry, but perfectly round, guavaberries have grown scarcer to find – and more coveted – in recent years. Unlike other berries, this first cousin of the clove and eucalyptus grows wild on trees and is most commonly found in the cool, lush hilly areas of St. Thomas’ west side and the Bordeaux Mountain area of St. John. The individual fruit tends to ripen at different rates so islanders will gather small quantity at a time and then freeze the fruit until it’s ready for baking and beverage making.

The recipe for making guavaberry rum is often a family secret passed down through generations. Ingredients include a mix of strong rum, sugar, flavorings like essences, citrus peel and spices, and of course, mashed guavaberries. This mixture is allowed to steep for several weeks until the flavors blend. The best guavaberry rums are those made from a small “seed” portion of this potent liqueur, carefully saved from the previous year. Some rum recipes are literally decades old.

Island cooks also process guavaberries into jams, breads, cakes and especially tarts, at Christmastime.

Food is the focus of another popularChristmastime ditty, which has this opening refrain: “Mama bake the Johnny cake, Christmas comin.’”

Also written and arranged by LaMotta, the origins of this song center on the mouth-watering anticipation of holiday baking. According to Virgin Islands Folk Songs, “Children eagerly looked forward to the preparation of homemade delicacies such as sweet breads and specially made Johnny cakes. Santa Claus himself took second place to these. Christmas without these tasty delights was unheard of. The mother usually prepared them in her own kitchen. The Christmas Johnny cakes were no ordinary ones. They had a special flavor and were delicious.”

Johnny cakes take their name from ‘journey cakes,’ as they are an unleavened bread made to last a long time without souring or spoiling. Today’s versions do contain a little leavening, such as baking powder, but remain true to the non-yeast risen category of baked goods. flour, cornmeal or a combination of these two grains form the Johnny cake dough. Other ingredients include baking powder, salt, sugar, milk or water and oil. This dough is rolled into disks and deep-fat fried.

Dark, round and rich, sweet breads are typically made in Bundt-pans and decorated on top with dried candied fruits that have been soaked in guavaberry rum for flavoring. They differ from fruit cakes. Fruit cakes have baking powder for leavening and more fruit in the batter, while sweet bread is made from a yeast dough with comparatively less fruit.

So, you might not find Virgin Islanders singing about a white Christmas or Jack Frost nipping at their toes, but you will find a very real holiday spirit both in island tunes and treats.