Latest update November 30th, 2024 1:00 AM
Feb 22, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Many people have grown tired of the vulgarity at the revelry on display on Mash Day. The Costume Parade and Float Competition, during which revelers take to the streets, have been characterized by uninhibited and lewd gyrations by man and woman alike.
It is a scene that unfolds before the eyes of thousands of children. The lewd displays by some of the revelers are at times shocking to the most liberal of individuals and it places the parents who bring their children out to view the parade in a most embarrassing situation.
At times parents have to cover the eyes of their children to prevent them from witnessing the overtly sexual simulations that even adults do not partake of in the privacy of their bedrooms.
Many parents have therefore decided to make alternative plans for the weekend and to keep their children away from the parade route this year. Others have long begun to make alternative plans for the long holiday weekend. Some middle class folks fly out of the country.
Some parents, in order to shield their children, will be taking them to resorts; others to the hinterland and others will stay at home. But sufficient numbers of adults and children will still line the parade route to witness the grand blackballing affair. The large crowds will allow the organizers to claim that this as the biggest attendance ever at a Mash Day event.
The organizers should however have noted the diminished sponsorship of bands and the skimpiness not just of the outfits but also of the floats that will be in display. These developments suggest clearly that there is a growing alienation by ordinary citizens and by the business community from what passes for our national celebrations.
It is time that the entire gamut of Republic Day celebrations be reorganized to give it a different flavor. Why do we have to have so much looseness in order to have a good time?
Mash Day will never be a major tourism puller. It falls too close to Christmas. This means that the business community, which is supposed to be the largest financiers, is not always going to be ready and willing to invest heavily in Mash.
Without the large companies that carry the bulk of the sponsorship, Mash Day will flop.
Mash Day is not also going to attract large numbers of tourists because there is only so much money that a tourist will spend. And having to make a choice between Mash and the three other major festivals in this Region- Trinidad’s Carnival, Brazil’s Carnival and Barbados Crop Over– it is obvious that very few tourists are ever going to be interested in coming here for Mashramani.
The February 23 celebrations will therefore remain a Guyanese thing. And why as an expression of Guyanese cultural identity should it have to mimic what takes place in Brazil and Trinidad? Our Republican celebrations have different historical origins to both of these other festivals, yet we assume that the best way to celebrate our National Day is to do what these nations do.
Well, many people are not pleased by what they see in the streets. The country’s economy is doing well and persons can afford to do other things on Mash Day.
There is growing exodus from this country on long weekends. People leave for overseas on this weekend or they go to various resorts.
Another reason why many people are not keen on going down to the parade route is the traffic congestion because of the large number of vehicles. Parking is a real problem in the city. This will be compounded on Mash Day.
While the police have promised increased security along the parade route, what about security and adequate parking for the thousands of vehicles that will descend on the capital to observe and participate in Mash Day celebrations.
Mash will however become a big Bash this year. There are a number of side attractions that will take place in the evening and which should be well attended.
But the warning signs are there that interest in Mashramani is waning, the corporate community is no longer as enthusiastic and parents are concerned about the vulgarity on display by revelers.
Unless the way Guyanese celebrate Mash Day is changed, this celebration which has been attracting increased spectator interest in recent years is going to die a natural death.
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