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Let us celebrate each other’s culture

Jul 13, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
I read the thought-provoking letter recently written about the race and nationality mix of people born in Guyana. I too would wish that we could “put our hands to the plough and build a “New” Guyana for our children and grandchildren, and begin to celebrate our different ethnic groups and its rich cultures with pomp and glory”.
Personally, I think the problem is mainly one of adjusting to different culture patterns, with understanding and appreciation. And I think I am in a good position to speak, having parents of both races – mother “Black”, father Indian. At present living next to neighbours from India, for roughly 40 years now, I have experienced the same ‘puzzlement’, with culture patterns sometimes getting in the way.
Some years ago, when we attended the 50th birthday celebrations of the mother of the family, we had to be talked through the rituals, while their ‘own people’ knew instinctively what to do. It was a relief when the promised written invitation to the son’s approaching wedding never materialised. We guessed his bride’s family was not keen on ‘strangers’. However, we thoroughly enjoyed the offered traditional spicy dishes prepared for both occasions.
By the same token, my Jamaican colleague married a man who was African born and bred. When her female in-laws came to the UK to meet her, they wondered verbally why their ‘boy’ had to marry “a canefield girl”. They did not know that my friend’s companion spoke their language – and reported back. In Guyana in the 1990s when I heard Guyanese ‘Blacks’ speak about their ‘roots’, it brought to mind the African view that Caribbeans did not ‘count’ in African culture, because our people were “descended from slaves”. I held my tongue.
Therefore, let us now for the sake of our children, their children and succeeding generations begin to celebrate our different ethnic groups and its rich cultures with pomp and glory.
And let us try to get along together, as we did in the pre-mid-1960s days. “Blessed are the Peacemakers….” Incidentally, in 1993, as tourists in the Holy Land, we visited the Mount of the Beatitudes, which overlooks the River Jordan. We spent a few hours there. Very quiet and peaceful. The ‘sheltering tree’ is still there – some of its roots, now above ground, curling back on themselves. Chunks of “the Sermon” came to mind.
Geralda Dennison

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