As a quasi-historian and oral historian, I am often led into numerous satisfying adventures in literature (written and oral). However, many of the adventures leave me hankering for more information, entertainment and elucidation. The two books – ‘The Story of Georgetown’ by James Rodway and ‘Georgetown Journal’ by Andrew Salkey – featured in ‘Welcome to Guyana 7’, led me to Godfrey Chin’s ‘Nostalgias: Golden Memories of Guyana 1940 – 1980’. The book is basically about Georgetown. For a long time back, Georgetown was, and for a long time hence forth, Georgetown, will be equated with Guyana. Almost all major socio-economic events were/are centred in Georgetown. So in all the headings of chapters in the book, ‘Guyana’ can be read as ‘Georgetown’. For example, ‘Movies in Guyana’ could be read ‘Movies in Georgetown’ due to the ample information on cinemas in and around Georgetown.

Having revisited this book, I found it appropriate to discuss some its content which made direct references to the Christmas Season.
But first something on the book. The book, ‘Nostalgias,’ is but forty-eight pieces of recollections out of more than 300 pieces Godfrey Chin had written and shared in print and online since 2000. Those pieces covered a variety of subjects namely (by chapter headings) ‘Growing Up in Tenement Yards’, ‘Movies in Guyana, 1945 to 19 82’, ‘Gaiety Cinema – Silent Days,’ ‘Remembering the Coast Railways, 1846 to 1970’, ‘Chinese in Sports’, ‘Easter at Home,’ ‘Georgetown, the Garden City’, ‘Guyana Rum Shops’, ‘Discos – Saturday Night Fever’, ‘Guyana’s Blackest Friday, 16 February 1962’, ’60 Years of Social Dancing in Guyana, 1945 – 2005’, ‘Golden Age of British Movies in Guyana’, ‘Remembering Theatre Guild’, ‘Learning the 3Rs in Guyana’, ‘Comic Books in Guyana’, ‘A Tribute to Guyana’s Newspaper Vendors’, ‘Guyana’s Stealbands, 1947-2007’.
The book, ‘Nostalgias: Golden Memories of Guyana 1940 – 1980’ by Godfrey Chin was published in 2007 and it was a compilation of Chin’s ever popular recording of Guyana’s social history.
Now to the direct references to the Christmas Season. These are found in the following chapters via ‘Christmas 1944, In memory of my father’, ‘Guyanese wannabe Santa Claus’, ‘Toys for tots’, ‘Decorating the Christmas Tree’, and ‘The true Guyanese Christmas spirit’.
In the above pieces, you could find every and anything on the season at that time like Christmas Raffle, Christmas Box hand, ‘Puzzlin Box’, with which to make your Christmas shopping a pleasure or pain. Depending on how you prioritise, you may be able to enjoy ‘Swift ham in tar paper, a five-pound tin of Macintosh Quality Street chocolates, Marie custard cream biscuits and an Edam Dutchman head cheese’. For breakfast, you may be able to get ‘slices of ham, pickled onions, ketchup and bread plus Red Rose tea, cocoa, or bush tea…boiled duck, funsee soup with foo-chuck, ice cream with KOO canned grapes, imported from South Africa but later banned after apartheid’.
During this season, no one is left out. There are chores for mothers like ‘sewing curtains; boiling, honey-baking and cloving the ham; churning salt butter to bake sponge cake; setting sorrel, ginger beer, jamoon or rice wine’, preparing garlic pork and pepperpot. Also making artificial flowers from crepe paper. Everyone is involved in Christmas cleaning which included re-polishing furniture with a ‘magical concoction of mentholated spirit and French wood polish’ and polishing floor or covering it with linoleum.
Decorating the Christmas tree was the big event of the season. Chin wrote ‘[o]n the fourth Sunday before Christmas, the annual ritual …would begin.’ And for many decades, everything concerning the Christmas was homemade.
The other big event of the season was Christmas Eve Day/Christmas Eve Night – last minute shopping, window shopping after stores were closed cracking peanuts and licking ice cream cones, and midnight mass.
You would also find toys for tots and the game children played. The toys were ‘inexpensive’ like ‘jig saw puzzles, colouring books, and spring-wound toy train made of tin, Sherman and Panzer tanks’, wood guns, slingshots, boats, submarines, all accompanied by ‘flutes from papaw stems; comb and silver paper; empty bottle and spoon; calabash shac-shac; and biscuits cans for bass drums’.
Overloading the season would be activities like preparing Christmas Cards, gift envelops for the postman and garbage collector, listening/playing Christmas Carols and Songs and making time to view Holiday serials at the movie houses. Top songs were ‘White Christmas’ by Bing Crosby and ‘Happy Holidays’ by Guyanese, Billy Moore.
The book, ‘Nostalgias: Golden Memories of Guyana 1940 – 1980’ by Godfrey Chin was published in 2007 and it was a compilation of Chin’s ever popular recording of Guyana’s social history.
Godfrey Chin was born in Georgetown, Guyana, during the late 1930s, becoming involved in everything of interest as ‘a regular cook shop fly’. He was a multitalented sportsman, graphic designer, and social commentator. He died in Guyana after Christmas of 2011.

(Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)

(By Petamber Persaud)