Mash should be for the entire family

May 24, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

One of the bands that will be participating in this year’s Mash Day Parade had a launch recently. That turned out to be wishful thinking.

The launch consisted of a woman and a man on stage doing things that are better left for the bedroom. It seems as if Guyanese are in for the same type of Mash Day revelries as in the past when parents had to cover the eyes of their small children because of the skimpy clothing worn by some revelers.
It was hoped that with the postponing of Mash from February to May that there would have been enough time for this national festival to have been re- conceptualized. Mash needed a change in focus.
Mash had descended to a ‘wining’ competition. There was little concern for the fact that this is supposed to be a family event.
There were attempts in the past to try to change this. The Christian churches attempted to get involved to show how Mash could be clean and yet be fun.
They were swept away by a tidal wave of ‘wining and backballing.’ The churches called it quits after the second year.
There was little regard for the fact that young children were in the stands and along the parade route viewing the event. The complaints about the lewdness were disregarded.
There was no attempt to change it. It was hoped that with a new government and the shift in date by three months, Guyanese could have looked forward to a ‘cleaner’ Mash.
There was nothing clean by what was seen at the launching of that band. It was utter lewdness on display. It was all about who could ‘wine’ better than the other.
Guyana’s national day is being celebrated by a parade that features a great deal of anti- family gyrations. Is this how Guyanese intend to define themselves?
Nations Days must have activities in which entire families can participate. It should not be about ‘ adult’ entertainment alone.
Parents must feel comfortable taking their children to the parade. They must not fear that their children will be exposed to lewdness.
Why should Mash be celebrated as it was in the past? Is this the image that Guyana wants to present to the outside world as the country celebrates the 50th anniversary of Independence?
Is this the best we can do for the thousands who paid good money to return home for the ‘jubilee’? They want a good show, a clean show.
Guyana should do better. We do not have to be copycats and provide to the rest of the Region how GT people could ‘wine’.
It is utterly disgusting that on a day when the entire nation should be celebrating a once – and for other twice – in a lifetime event that this is the image that Guyana is presenting to the rest of the world.
There are many important persons will most likely becoming to Guyana as guests of the people of Guyana. Is this the type of parade that we want them to see or do we want to give this something better that people in skimpy clothing ‘wining’, ‘grinding’, ‘backballing’ and exposing too much of skin and cleavage?
Will local music be played or will instead the parade revelers be moving towards the music from the land of calypso and the reggae capital of the Caribbean?
Will the parade reflect Guyanese culture? Or will it reflect the fact that instead if trying to find and express our own identity we are substituting what we see in Trinidad and Brazil can copycatting it?
Guyanese must decide what Mash is about. They must decide how important it is to them.
If it is important, it may still not be late to make the parade just that, a parade rather than a ‘wining’ session.

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