Diaspora Reminiscing about a Guyanese Year End Holiday Season

Dec 28, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

It is end of year and Guyanese in the diaspora reminisce about the enjoyment of the year-end season as they remember it from decades ago. The diaspora even transplants Guyanese  practices in their new homeland of North America and Europe.

Living in Guyana, with strong European influence, one can’t escape being caught in festivities relating to Christmas (a Christian holiday) and year-end season even if one is from another faith. Christmas and the season take on a kind of secular atmosphere in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society like Guyana and even in Trinidad and Suriname and other multi-religious nations. Everyone, regardless of faith, looked forward for the season as it was a time for new clothing, special entertainment and meals.

As in Guyana, almost everyone in the diaspora celebrates the spirit of the holiday of sharing and caring for others especially of those less fortunate and gifting to children. They go out of their way to create joy for family members. Guyanese still hold on to that practice and others in North America and Europe for the holidays.

Some of the secular activities associated with Christmas are going shopping for new items including clothing, decorating the home, gift-giving, feasting, exchanging cards, charity, listening to music, watching movies, partying, being spectator of masquerade bands, going to the horse races, cooking special meals, baking, visiting friends and relatives, etc. The festivities last over a week from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day. Some of these activities are carried on USA. Masquerade bands appear in Brooklyn.

As they did in Guyana, the yearend season offers the opportunity for renewal within the home and in the yard – a Fall cleaning to get rid of fallen leaves and spruce up the surrounding, organizing flowers, and mowing the lawn. Season decorations are put up — appropriate curtains, cushions, spreads on the beds, pillow cases to welcome the new season. New furniture may also replace older ones.

In the olden days in Guyana, preparation for the holiday usually started weeks before X-mas even among non-Christians and the poorest sections of society. For Hindus and Muslims, the holiday season is a continuation of their festivals of Eid and Diwali which generally fall around the end of the year. It is the same in the diaspora.

In Guyana, for those who could afford, it used to be homes were festooned with trimmings, balloons and other decorations and some brilliantly illuminated in an unofficial competition of the best lit home – a practice that still continues. Shopping districts were also well decorated and music blaring to attract customers. The same is transplanted in the diaspora.

No Guyanese Christmas is without special music.  Christmas carols or songs are very popular – the same ones heard in North America although there are local ones (calypso, reggae, chatney) and Bollywood songs (favorite of Indo-Caribbeans) as well.  Businesses advertised their Christmas goods and services early and as such radio and television stations started holiday programming a whole month before the season.
The season was associated with baking – bread, cake, pastries — and cooking a variety of dishes – and making local drinks like ginger beer, sorrel, mauby, etc. The season is also one of giving gifts — to relatives, friends, business associates, neighbors, children, and the needy. Children were told that their gifts would be brought by Father Christmas and that they should hang socks; they were rewarded. Gift to adults or families could take the form of food or hampers or cake. People baked and exchange cake. These practices continue in the diaspora.

Christmas was a time for family get-together in Guyana. The animal was killed or meat purchased the day before or on Christmas Day or Old Year’s or New Year’s Day.  Families prepared most elaborate seasonal dishes. Relatives, friends, neighbors, and co-workers were invited for a hearty meal. For dessert, cakes (black, sponge, fruit, etc.) and other goodies are served and washed down with traditional homemade drinks as well as imported cydrax, peardrax, mauby, sherry or Correia’s wine, soft drinks, and hard liquor. Apples, grapes, walnuts, dates, and candies are also served (prior to their banning in the 1970s).

The season was a time for new movies and horse races and many people would go to the cinemas to view hit movies from Bollywood or Hollywood or to watch the races.

In the olden days, phone was not affordable or even available and TV was not easily accessible and even unavailable in some countries. On Christmas and New Year’s Day, they huddled around radio stations for recorded holiday messages from loved ones in Europe and North America. People were very excited to hear their name on the air. Guyanese also tend to receive seasonal greeting cards and or money from loved ones or neighbors from abroad bringing joy.

‘Yesteryear’s’ was a simple celebration lacking all of today’s modernities and entertainment. But it was fantastic, enjoyable,  and peaceful with memories for a lifetime!

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram

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• Christian, European, Guyanese Year End, Holiday Season, Vishnu Bisram

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