Christmas Eve Night in a cemetery

Dec 25, 2013 News

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– a Guyanese’s first Christmas in Canada

Do you know of any Guyanese who would make it his or her duty to spend a part of Christmas Eve night in a cemetery? Well, Phillip Andrews did.
But thankfully it was not the Le Repentir Cemetery in Guyana; it was the Union Cemetery in a town called Port Hope in Canada and although it was freezing cold, Phillip was not alone.

He soon found out that it was all part of an old tradition to which he was introduced by his Canadian born wife and her relatives.
That was seven years ago and it was Phillip’s first Christmas in Canada, having left his native Guyana to take up residence there.
Relating his experience, he told Kaieteur News that the family had left church, at which point he thought it was time to go showcase-watching in downtown Ontario, where the dazzling lights made one dizzy.
But instead, to his horror, his wife Jessica informed him that they were heading to the cemetery.
“I asked them if they were crazy,” he exclaimed.
Curiosity got the better of him and he went along with the plan.
There he saw many lighted candles in the dark and the amount of people he saw shocked him, it was as if the whole of the Irish community in Toronto was there.
“Going to the cemetery and lighting candle was new to me,” he mentioned.
“The lanterns are lit in Union Cemetery and it’s a Scandinavian tradition. We do it every Christmas Eve to remember our family members who have passed away…We go to Port Hope for that,” his wife Jessica explained.
That was Christmas 2006 and since then, Phillip has grown accustomed to it.
This year though he and his wife Jessica plan to sit with their three sons, Peter, five; Peyton, two and 10-month-old Elliott in their Whitby, Ontario home and “watch movies in our PJs, and just relax”, after church on Christmas Eve Night.
“Then the kids go to bed and sleep so “Santa” can come. On Christmas morning we have gift opening at home,” Jessica Andrews told Kaieteur News.
Unlike in Guyana, where people hardly leave their homes on Christmas day, Phillip and his family will head to his wife’s side of the family (parents and sister/brother-in-law) around noon for dinner and family time.
Again, unlike in Guyana where the main course is usually chicken, in Canada Phillip and his family will be having the traditional North American turkey dinner with all the trimmings…mashed potatoes, veggies, stuffing…and desserts.
“Over here the biggest thing is turkey; it is on all the holiday menus,” Phillip said.
There will be no pepperpot, garlic pork and black cake.

Phillip said that his wife does not like pepperpot and black cake.
He had introduced her to it the first Christmas he spent with her.
But maybe it was the way he prepared it for her that caused such a reaction, although he boasted about what a great chef he is.
“Yes, I’ve had pepperpot! Philip does cook that but for here at our house,” she said, adding that the children are a bit ‘picky’ with their food.
Pepperpot has not been on Phillip’s menu ever since that first time.
But Christmas is not all about food and as such Phillip is not really missing anything. For him, Christmas in Canada is a whole new ball game.
He is experiencing that image of Christmas that is ingrained in his mind from the countless storybooks and movies that he read and saw as a child growing up in the mining town of Linden.
“Seeing the snow and the lights and hearing the music gives me this real feeling of Christmas. Over here all the radio stations switch to Christmas music and that helps to create that feeling, along with all the Christmas movies on all the (TV) channels,” he explained.
‘There isn’t the big set of wall and window wiping and curtain changing.”
“My house is cleaned throughout the year,” Phillip proudly boasted.
According to Phillip, the Christmas holiday is mostly about buying gifts, something that he hardly subscribed to when he was in Guyana.
The gift buying is manifested in the frenzied shopping on Boxing Day.
While Guyana use the day after Christmas to visit relatives and friends, Phillip disclosed that that day “is when all the stores have all the sales.”
Boxing Day is also a working day in Canada, unlike in Guyana.
And that was one thing he had to get accustomed to, very fast.
“Things are a lot more laid back there in Guyana. From the start of December it’s all about fun, and work takes a back seat to the festivities. Whether it’s Christmas, Boxing Day or not, you have to work your butt off,” he said.
But while Phillip has adjusted to the season in Canada, his wife Jessica is longing to experience what Guyana is like at Christmas time.
She has never visited these shores and she is adamant that that will change soon, having heard so much about the Land of Many Waters from her husband.
She chuckled when it was suggested that she would be trading the snow covered streets of Canada for the flood-proned Georgetown.
“I don’t mind,” she said.
Jessica has a slightly different impression of Christmas in Guyana from her Guyanese husband.
“It seems much more exciting there for you at Christmas. For us, it’s extremely laid back. Drink wine, beer. We don’t do major cleaning like that as we do that weekly. We don’t change curtains either. I would love to come there (Guyana) for Christmas,” she told Kaieteur News.
She was excited when mention was made of her husband’s staff party. Of course that is something Phillip is all too familiar with, having worked at the Demerara Distillers Limited, where that kind of activity was a ‘must’ at Christmas time.
“He has a staff Christmas party coming up and I hope to go! As long as we can get a sitter,” Jessica Andrews said.
Her husband is not too anxious though to spend Christmas in his homeland too soon.
“My children are not Guyanese, so I have to give them what they are accustomed to. Of course I tell them about Christmas in Guyana but I will only bring them (at that time) when they are old enough to understand what it really means,” Phillip explained.
But for sure he certainly will hope that he spends a lot more Christmases in Guyana before another Christmas Eve night finds him in a cemetery.

 

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