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A Guyanese Christmas for children

Dec 23, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
Children Had a Lovely time for Christmas in the old days.
Christmas is the most celebrated of all festivals in Guyana.  The celebration lasts a couple of weeks and is very different from a New York X-Mas which is short and which lacks all the niceties of a Guyanese X-Mas – such as the warmth, togetherness, friendship, love, etc. The season was usually one of expectancy and excitement with children looking forward for it and having a joyous time.
The Guyanese Christmas brings back a lot of memories as a child. Adults took a keen interest in planning activities to welcome the celebration for their children and relatives.  People made preparation weeks before the holiday season. Artificial flowers were taken out of storage and used in decoration of the home. Usually, decorating the house and the tree are done by children who have a most wonderful time making beautiful ornaments and putting them around the house.
There were flickering multi-coloured lights which line the windows and entrance to the home. Houses engage in an unofficial competition for the title of the best decorated and most lit home in the neighborhood and the youths being the judges talking days about their experiences.
The youths were excited about the season because they got new clothes to go to the cinemas or horse racing or for the ride to town on Christmas Eve or for a fete or just for the New Year. On Christmas or New Year’s Eve people go out for snacks or shopping.  But people were contented with inexpensive garment or footwear and their general lifestyle.
During the last week of work before Christmas, offices would hold parties for their staff.  Schools would also hold parties for kids; balloons, candies, cakes and drinks are distributed.  Students would sing carols and there used to be school concerts.  And at the Christian schools in the mornings during the weeks before Christmas, students would sing carols. On weekends, and on Christmas Eve, churches would hold nativity plays and candle light services with young people. Also on Christmas Eve, parents would take their children to the city for window shopping, or to purchase toys, or to have ice-cream and other and other goodies.  There is no such experience in NYC for the youths.
And before children went to bed, they were told to hang socks and to make a promise never again to use profanity or behave badly for Santa to give them gifts. And lo and behold when they wake up in the morning, there are small gifts in their socks.
For the young, Christmas Eve excitement was at fever pitch with the baking of the cake and bread.  The fresh bread usually went well with Dutch head cheese and soft drinks or sorrel or ginger beer or mauby. Cake was baked around this time after dried imported fruits (raisins, currants, cherries, citrus, prunes) for black cake were minced and soaked well in advance, around August. A large cast iron mince mill, bolted to the end of a table was used to grind the mixture of these fruits to a pulp. The mixture was then placed in a bottle and rum and wine (made from jamoon, fruits or purchased from the stores) are poured into it; in a couple of months, it was ready for the delicious black cake which is washed down with drinks.
No Christmas was without masquerade bands (musicians with mouth organ, a flute and drums) – men dressed in skirts with live extempo music – which would go street to street and house to house to dance and receive donations.
The young, including myself, would have a terrific time and the extra money would come in handy to purchase goodies. And during the festival, children would make their own fireworks from the tin of carbon which when lighted set off a bang, much like that of a firecracker.  Steel wool, dipped in kerosene, and lit provides local fireworks. For X-Mas, there was a lot of food and merry making with children running around playing with toys.
Those were the good old times of youths celebrating the season in Guyana – with peace, tranquility, love and respect for adults.
Vishnu Bisram

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