bobolee

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

bobolee (plural bobolees)

1. An effigy of Judas Iscariot that is attacked as part of the Good Friday celebration in Trinidad.
   • 1992, Michael R. Als, No Half a Loaf, page 30:

     Elias, dem police beat mih like if ah was a Good Friday bobolee.

   • 2000, Jennifer Franco, When the Ti-Marie closes, page 74:

     Good Fridays were unremarkable except for the hot-cross buns that Aunty Sue used to bake, and the drive to Point Fortin to look for Good Friday bobolees.

   • 2012, Angela Smith, Steel Drums and Steelbands: A History, page 36:

     “Bobolee” bands were popular around the 1860s and were ensembles of men and women from the poorer neighborhoods of Port of Spain. On Good Friday and during Carnival, they beat tin pans chanting, “Beat the bobolee! Beat the bobolee!

   • 2014, Cecil Gray, “A Gift For Eric”, in Cecil Gray, editor, Perspectives: A Course in Narrative Comprehension and Composition for Caribbean Secondary Schools, page 63:

     Eric wanted to know if Christmas was the time when people made a bobolee.