Meaning
A central character of Jonkunnu (John Canoe), the traditional Jamaican Christmas masquerade — a dancer covered head to toe in a costume of hundreds of colourful cloth strips that flutter and swirl as he moves. By extension 'pitchy-patchy' describes anything ragged and made of mismatched patches. A vivid emblem of Jamaican folk carnival.
Examples
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Di pitchy-patchy a dance inna di Jonkunnu.
The pitchy-patchy is dancing in the Jonkunnu masquerade.
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Him clothes patch up pitchy-patchy.
His clothes are patched up all raggedy.
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Di pitchy-patchy costume mek outta cloth strip.
The pitchy-patchy costume is made of cloth strips.
Origin
Reduplication evoking patched rags; a Jonkunnu masquerade character. See [[jonkunnu]], [[chaka-chaka]].
How it’s used
The strip-cloth Jonkunnu masquerade character; also 'ragged/patchy'. See [[jonkunnu]], [[christmas]].