“TELL THEM, tell them for God sakes, if Guyana has one thing that’s Guyanese, it’s Mashramani,” the slim, distinguished-looking man in the chair opposite me exhorts, gesturing with his cigarette. Jimmy Hamilton, who describes himself as “the last of the great smokers,” played a crucial role in the genesis of Mashramani, the loud, colourful, joyous festival that has become woven into our cultural tapestry.
Now 80, Hamilton sounds more like a 30-year-old. What’s even more amazing is that he unabashedly admits to having had his three-pack-a-day cigarette habit for 63-years! 
“I can’t see what’s all the fuss about these advertisements and cigarettes giving you cancer,” he said. “I never even get a cold.”  
When asked why his ‘Mash’ accomplishments have not been given the credit they deserve, he laughs and produces a souvenir brochure titled, ‘Celebrating the First Anniversary of the Republic of Guyana’. And, pointing to one of four pictures in the publication under the heading, ‘Men Behind the Scenes’, he says: “I am not responsible for Mashramani; this fellow is.”
The photo in question was of a then 39-year-old Hamilton; the caption underneath said: Chairman of the Jaycees Mashramani Team. The other three photographs were of Project Manager for all Dances, Burton Gilbert; Finance Officer, William Harris; and Project Manager of Shanto Preliminaries, Raymond Haynes.
But just who were the Jaycees? 
The Jaycees of Greater Mackenzie (so named in order to include the wards of Wismar and Christiansburg) was formed in 1965 by an enthusiastic group of ambitious young men from the bauxite-rich township on the Upper Demerara River who wanted to utilize their time to better themselves and their respective communities.
Starting with just four, the group soon grew to sixteen persons. Among them were electricians, machinists, foremen, businessmen, insurance agents, engineers, accountants, and two expatriate senior managers from the mining firm, the Demerara Bauxite Company (DEMBA) Limited.
Within a short time, the group managed to win the respect and cooperation of their communities by organizing small projects, such as painting the Mackenzie All-age School, donating dustbins to the local authority, sponsoring scholarships to the then Mon Repos Agricultural School, and organizing business administration courses for small businessmen, and several seminars and leadership development courses for both Jaycees and other service organisations.
The Chapter was less than a year old when Guyana achieved Independence, so the group decided to organize a programme of events to mark the occasion. The proceeds from these events were intended for a proposed Upper Demerara River hospital.
At the time, the Company-owned hospital catered mainly for the bauxite workers and their families, and only admitted persons who could have acquired a DEMBA Worker ID card. Needless to say, no hospital existed on the western bank of the river where nearly three-quarters of the township’s population lived.
The group planned dances, a float parade, and an independence queen contest. The Jaycees went about organizing the pageant in such a way that the winner would be selected by three communities.
They had ten sponsors coming from departments within DEMBA, and small businesses from both sides of the river.
Thousands of tickets were printed, with the idea being that each would count as a vote for the buyer’s favourite contestant. Photographs of the contestants, Hamilton said, were placed at strategic points in the communities, while the contestants and their sponsors mounted their own campaigns, and selling tickets, which cost just a dollar apiece.
As Hamilton recalls, the young ladies were presented to the public at a special ceremony, which started at 17:00h the day before the parade, where they had to tell the attendees in three minutes why they should be crowned Queen.
By this time, he said, the pavillion was packed to the hilt, and the arena took on a stock market atmosphere as sponsors, workmates, family and friends of the delegates rushed around in a frenzy trying to buy as many votes as possible for their respective queens.
Then, at 18:00h sharp, the clock stopped, and Wendella Davidson, a 19-year-old nursing student, became Guyana’s first Independence Queen with over 13,000 votes. “The activity was a lot of fun,” Hamilton said. The group was able to amass a total of $33,000 for the hospital, which was a lot of money back in 1966.
The activity was so successful that the following year, it was taken over by the Village Council. Then in 1968, the Jaycees held talks with the Local Authority to plan that year’s celebration.
Jaycee member, Mike Brassington, who was the manager of the Mackenzie branch of Barclays Bank at the time and had spent some years in Trinidad, suggested that they do it carnival-style, and name it ‘Independence Carnival’.
With him at the helm as Chairman, Hamilton recalls setting about the task “with a vengeance.” Ten contestants were chosen, and the pageant offered exciting prizes, even by today’s standards. Prizes included a motor car from Bookers Bros, a trip to New York, gold jewellery and living-room  suites from Kissoon’s Furniture Stores.
The ‘copycat’ carnival started with ‘Ole Mas’, continued with ‘J’ouvert Morning’, calypso and steel pan contests, the Miss Independence Carnival Queen, of course, and closed with the costume bands and float parade.
Sixteen-year-old Evadnie Gravesande, a high school student from Silver City, Wismar, became the first Independence Queen.
But according to Hamilton, following the success of the Independence Carnivals, the Jaycees were faced with the task of ‘Guyanizing’ the event, as the new socialist republic would not recognise the monarchy system.
It was therefore agreed after several committee meetings that as a Republic, anything associated with the Monarchy became irrelevant, and being a cooperative republic with a socialist thrust, the programme must reflect this new dimension.
In the Guyanization of the programme, ‘Ole Mas’ became known as ‘The Revolt Dance’, and followed a similar pattern to ‘Costumes in Pun’, as it was felt that seeing our first step towards Republican status began with the first slave rebellions,  ‘Costumes in Pun’ should reflect the Guyanese tradition of making fun of adversity.
And, making use of the local vernacular, the Jaycees changed ‘J’Ouvert Morning’ to ‘Fo-Day Manin Jump Up’ as a way of describing the early morning celebrations in the streets. The Calypso contest was abolished and replaced by a Shanto contest.
Shanto, Hamilton explained, is a rhythm and beat developed from a combination of African drums, East Indian strings, and Amerindian chants.
The committee decided to keep the steel pan, since they considered the culture to be as West Indian as cricket, due to its assimilation into Guyana’s culture from since the middle of the century. The same was done for the costume bands and float parades, as the Jaycees considered these to be as Guyanese as any other activity, since Guyanese used costumes to launch new products, in anniversary programmes for large entities, and in colonial times, had used costumes to welcome visiting dignitaries.
The aspect of the Carnival Queen presented a challenge for the Jaycees. The name carnival had to go, and they could not consider crowning a Queen. The Jaycees got around this creatively. Hamilton stressed that she was ‘sashed’ not ‘crowned’, and she was given a scepter as a symbol of authority.
But the problem of finding a name was still there. Teams were formed to peruse various publications. Various individuals, organisations and government agencies were contacted in the quest to find a worthy name.
It was at a meeting in early December 1968 that someone suggested they find an Amerindian name. There were over 300 Amerindians working with the bauxite company and others in settlements in Wismar, Old England, Coomaka and many others up the Demerara River. 
Fortunately, a name was soon found. In mid-December, Allan Fiedtkow, a surveyor with DEMBA’s Geological Department, returned to Mackenzie after spending several months with an exploration party in remote parts of the interior.
Alan had a grandfather who was over 80 years old and lived at Malali, a settlement about thirty miles by river from Mackenzie. After consulting with the old man, Fiedtkow said his granddad recalled celebrations where people living hundreds of miles apart would get together and celebrate for days in an identified area. The word used for this celebration was Arawak in origin, but in English sounded like ‘Mash-ra-mani’.
At long last, the Jaycees had a name. But, was it real? Was it true?  This called for more research.  The last source, Adrian Thompson, historian and district manger, who was respected for his enormous knowledge and dealings with indigenous tribes, said: “Boys, I can’t find anything to confirm or deny the meaning of ‘Mashramani’, but what I can tell you is I don’t think anyone alive can deny it, even if they can’t prove it. Therefore, I would say: Go ahead with ‘MASHRAMANI’.”
After one of the group’s key members, the famous West Indies cricketer, Basil Butcher,  left, Hamilton and James Blackman undertook the organizing of the programme, interacting with sponsors, designers and donors, a duty which required numerous trips to Georgetown. One week before the event, the group set up an information centre on Republic Avenue, Mackenzie to provide the public with details of the programme.
According to Hamilton, the first Mashramani was a resounding success. Six contestants participated in the first ever Miss Mashramani contest, and 20-year-old Hazel Figueira, a Mackenzie beauty sponsored by D’Aguiar Bros, came out on top, becoming the first Mashramani Queen.
Her costume was designed by Godfrey Chin and entitled, ‘Woman and Beauty’. It depicted the ever changing mood of a woman in a riot of shimmering colours — silver, gold, blue, red, yellow and orange.
Young Guitar Levans, son of the legendary Shanto singer, Guitar Levans, became the first Shanto champion in Guyana.
The costumed bands performed on stage to be judged. Large bands performed in sections, according to their themes, and the largest crowd ever to assemble in the mining town took to the streets, led by the first Miss Mashramani and her followers in an open float.
Due to logistic reasons, however, only the parade came to Georgetown, as it was hard to transport costumes and bands to the city.
In 1972, the Jaycees were advised by the government that the celebrations would be decentralized. Hence, Miss Mashramani was held in Georgetown that year, with designers like Godfrey Chin and David Lanyi standing out in early Mashramani experiences.
He pointed out that the spelling of Mackenzie was ‘Mackenzie’ and not ‘McKenzie’ as commonly misspelled. Mackenzie was named after George Bain Mackenzie, the Scottish-born American geologist who bought the area for mining bauxite.
Reminds Hamilton: “Keep things Guyanese.”