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Catholic belief in Jamaica is influenced by a set of Afro-Jamaican cultural beliefs about witchcraft, evil spirits and possession called "Obeah." Jamaicans often ask Catholic clergy for rosaries and holy water, for anointing with oil, or for a home visit with incense to dispel an Obeah curse.

"Where for the Americans singing a hymn is an act of praise, for the Jamaicans the song and all the dancing and rhythm that accompany it are a religious experience in themselves."

The legacy of migration to Jamaica is evident in the faces and surnames of Jamaican Catholics. But today, almost all young people interviewed considered outward migration to the U.S., Canada or Great Britain a distinct possibility or even a likely occurrence.

Family is important as an ideal in Jamaica, but the marriage rate—especially among the poor—has long been a matter of social concern. In recent years, almost 85% of births in Jamaica are to single mothers.

According to traditional Jamaican belief, the journey from this world to the next is not complete until nine nights after the death of the body. Until then, a malevolent ghost, or duppy, of a deceased person might linger after death, inhabiting its old house, or exacting revenge on persons who have mistreated it.

In a slide illustrated lecture, anthropologist Anya Peterson Royce shows how the Zapotec use flowers, processions and prayer in rituals that protect and guide spirits on their journey of dying. She also describes the Day of the Dead and Holy Week rituals and the role of the community healer.

The Sisterhood of Our Lady of the Good Death, or Boa Morte, in Bahia is comprised of Afro-Brazilian women who practice a combination of Catholicism and Candomblé, a religion with roots in the African slave trade.

Ouro Preto culminates its Holy Week observances with a 6 a.m. Mass at St. Francis of Assisi and a procession along the 1 km route covered that decorated the night before in beautiful tapete, or sawdust carpets.

In the late night and morning hours after Saturday night’s Easter Vigil, townspeople decorate the cobblestone streets with a tapete, or carpet, of colored wood shavings to mark the hilly, one kilometer route for the next morning's Easter procession.

On the steps of Santa Efigênia, the church built on a separate hill by Chico Rey and other former slaves, a youth group gathered in the rain to perform the passion story.