Meaning
The home or yard of a family in mourning, where relatives, friends, and neighbours gather in the nights after a death to keep the bereaved company. At the dead yard they share food and drink, sing, tell stories, play games, and hold the 'nine-night' or 'set-up' wake, seeing the dead off and comforting the living through the long nights of grief. A central institution of Jamaican death custom, the dead yard turns mourning into a communal gathering, so that no family bears its loss alone.
Examples
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Di whole community turn out a di dead yaad every night.
The whole community turned out at the mourning house every night.
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Dem cook big pot a food fi di dead yaad.
They cooked big pots of food for the mourning gathering.
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White rum an singing fill di dead yaad till mawnin.
White rum and singing filled the mourning yard till morning.
Origin
'Dead' (the deceased / a death) plus 'yaad' (home/yard) — the household where mourning and wake gatherings are held. Central to nine-night custom.
How it’s used
The setting of Jamaican mourning customs like nine-night and set-up. See [[nine-night]].