Sekkle: Why One Word Carries a Whole Philosophy
In Jamaican Patois, 'sekkle' means to settle, to calm down, to find your center. But like most words in Patois, its meaning goes far deeper than any simple translation can capture. It's a word that contains within it an entire philosophy about how to move through the world.
When a Jamaican tells you to 'sekkle,' they're not just telling you to relax. They're reminding you to find your balance, not to let external chaos disturb your internal peace, and to maintain composure even when circumstances are turbulent. It's advice that comes from a culture forged in resilience, shaped by history, and refined through generations of people who had to find ways to maintain dignity and joy in the face of struggle.
The Power of Patois
Jamaican Patois—sometimes called Jamaican Creole—is more than a dialect of English. It's a language in its own right, with its own grammar, syntax, and expressive capacity. Born from the collision of West African languages, English, Spanish, and other influences during the colonial period, Patois became the linguistic vehicle through which enslaved Africans and their descendants created and preserved culture.
For a long time, Patois was looked down upon by those who saw 'proper' English as the only legitimate form of expression. But Patois speakers knew something that academics are only now beginning to fully appreciate: this language has a capacity for poetic compression, emotional nuance, and cultural specificity that standard English often can't match.
Consider a word like 'irie'—a term of supreme positivity that can mean good, great, alright, or excellent, but also carries connotations of being in harmony with oneself and the universe. Or 'likkle more,' which literally means 'little more' but serves as a goodbye that acknowledges you'll see each other again soon. These aren't just translations—they're worldviews compressed into syllables.
More Than Words: A Way of Thinking
What makes Patois particularly powerful is how it changes the way you conceptualize experience. The language has a different relationship with time, with causality, with emotion. The present tense carries more weight. Repetition isn't redundancy—it's emphasis. 'Mi deh yah' (I am here) isn't just stating location; it's declaring presence, existence, survival.
Patois also has an incredible capacity for creating new words and phrases that perfectly capture modern experiences. It's a living, evolving language that adapts rapidly, incorporating influences from dancehall culture, global hip-hop, internet slang, and the Jamaican diaspora worldwide while maintaining its distinct character.
Sekkle as Philosophy
Which brings us back to 'sekkle.' In a world that constantly demands more—more productivity, more consumption, more performance, more anxiety—'sekkle' offers a counter-philosophy. It suggests that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is be still. Not passive, not defeated, but centered.
This idea runs deep in Jamaican culture. You see it in the Rastafari concept of 'reasoning'—sitting together, talking through ideas, letting truth emerge in its own time. You hear it in reggae's emphasis on the 'one drop'—that heavy downbeat that makes everything else fall into place. You feel it in the way Jamaicans can maintain joy and creativity despite economic hardship, political turmoil, or global marginalization.
To sekkle is to refuse to be rushed, to trust your own pace, to know that your worth isn't measured by constant motion. It's a revolutionary act in a culture that equates busyness with importance. It's choosing quality over quantity, depth over speed, and being overdoing.
Carrying the Word Forward
When we chose 'Sekkle' as our name, we were choosing more than a catchy word. We were aligning ourselves with a philosophy, claiming a piece of linguistic heritage, and making a statement about how we want to move through the world.
We're not trying to rush culture, to dilute it for mass consumption, or to strip it of context for the sake of trends. We're trying to sekkle—to be deliberate, to honor source material, to take the time to get things right, to create pieces that carry meaning beyond aesthetics.
Because Patois taught us that language isn't just about communication—it's about worldview. And the worldview embedded in 'sekkle' is one worth carrying forward: stay grounded, stay centered, and don't let the chaos outside disturb the culture within.
So when someone asks what our name means, we could say 'settle' or 'calm down.' But really, we're saying: find your center and hold it.
