Nine Mornings is unlike any other Christmas tradition in the Caribbean. For nine mornings before Christmas, Vincentians wake before dawn, some as early as 4am, and fill the streets of Kingstown and villages across the Grenadines with music, food and light. It is not a single event. It is nine of them, and by Christmas Eve the whole country has been up before sunrise more times than most people manage in a year.
This guide is your map to the season, whether you are coming home for it, visiting for the first time, or living here and planning your December.
When it happens
Nine Mornings runs for the nine mornings leading up to Christmas Eve, from 16 to 24 December. Kingstown opens the season with a parade through the town centre a few days beforehand, drawing cultural groups, churches and community organisations from across St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The exact opening date moves a little from year to year, so check the Ministry of Tourism's calendar closer to December for this year's date.
What the mornings actually look like
Before the sun is up, Bay Street in Kingstown comes alive. There is carolling, drumming and steel pan, flambeaus lighting the way through the dark, string bands serenading house to house, and food stalls filling the air with cinnamon, nutmeg and the smell of coconut turnovers frying. Early risers head out for a sea bath, others come for the bicycle races that are as much a part of Nine Mornings as the music. Our guide to what happens during Nine Mornings walks through it, morning by morning.
Where it comes from
Nine Mornings blends two histories. One is a Catholic 'novena', the nine days of pre-Christmas prayer, which Vincentians moved out onto the street sometime in the 1920s. The other reaches back further, into the island's post-emancipation history, when freed Vincentians built their own early-morning Christmas traditions in the streets and yards that were now theirs. Either way, by the time the sea baths, bicycle races and fetes were added, Nine Mornings had grown into something that belongs to St. Vincent and the Grenadines alone.
Beyond Kingstown
Nine Mornings is not only a capital-city event. Villages across St. Vincent and islands throughout the Grenadines, including Bequia, run their own gatherings and light-up displays, and a best-village competition runs alongside the main festival. Wherever you are on Nine Mornings, there is likely somewhere close by to join in.
First time at Nine Mornings?
If you have never set an alarm for 4am to go stand in the street, our first-timer's guide covers what to expect, what to bring, and how to still be standing for all nine mornings.
Plan it on the app
Nine Mornings is nine early starts in a row, easy to underestimate the first time. Save the spots you want to catch as you read, and use the Island Link app to check what is open in the early hours. It is free on iPhone and Android.