Hague: A Serene Village Reeking of Tranquility and Simplicity
Welcome to Hague Village
Welcome to Hague Village

I have got to admit my dear readers that this week around I had quite a fulfilling experience as I journeyed the to the length and breadth of a serene and very breath-taking village nestled in the humble nook of the ‘westside,’ oozing great pristine beauty infused with a certainly sparkling tropical aura, accentuated by its rich tranquility and simplicity.

The legendary Dave Martins was a resident of Hague
The legendary Dave Martins was a resident of Hague

Here I was in the middle of Hague, West Coast Demerara totally enthralled by its arresting ambience, appealing picturesque infrastructure and the lush and almost delicious greenery that beckoned the feeding fantasies of the well fattened cattle, sheep, and other animals I found there.
Hague is a small West Coast Demerara village located about 12 km from Vreed-en-Hoop. As history would suggest, it was once a Dutch plantation and took its name from the capital of the Netherlands. Nowadays it is home to over 1,300 residents, many of whom are Hindus, and is flanked by Den Amstel to the east and Cornelia Ida to the west.
This somewhat small village is actually divided into two areas being Hague Front and Hague Back according to residents. Hague Front seems to be the busier side of the village and is occupied by a fusion of East Indian and Negroes. There are also some people of mixed race there that help to give the village its popularity for having distinct harmony amongst its people.

Beautiful cottages add a pleasant allure to the backlands
Beautiful cottages add a pleasant allure to the backlands

Hague Back on the other hand is predominantly taken up by East Indians and is also the ‘agricultural alcove’ and is occupied by farmers who cultivate rice and cash crops on a large scale for home use, wholesale and even export purposes. This area is quiet and carries a certain pleasant and breezy atmosphere that seems to tease and intoxicate the senses.

My arrival and interacting with residents
I arrived and stopped out on the outskirts of the village, marvelling at the rumble and crash of the waves as they rolled in on a stretch of narrow beach just outside the village. Not being able to resist the pull I strolled over to the somewhat yester-year looking seawall and gulped in deep breaths of fresh air, lost in a ‘nature world’ where muddy waves crashed against rocks with a deafening roar, sending salty sprays in every direction.
Turning away reluctantly from this mesmerising spectacle my heart was almost jolted from my chest when I realised that I was just a few rods from the spot where the famed ‘Hague Haunted House’ stood many years ago.
Immediately I was taken back to years as a student in secondary school when icy fingers would creep up my spine every time I passed this old and eerie looking house on my way to Parika or other villages.

Proudly transporting cash crops from his own farm
Proudly transporting cash crops from his own farm

As I stared at the spot now taken over by thick foliage my wild imagination took over and I could barely restrain the urge to sprint from the area. As I raised my camera to take a few shots, the warnings of my grandmother never to point a finger or snap photos of haunted houses came to life and my throat became dry with fear and panic. Stifling my fears I took a few shots and hurried from that area as fast as my legs could carry me.
I managed to muster my composure as I entered the village and came face to face with the merry and ever-smiling 59-year-old Mohan Persaud a security guard who worked with a private firm outside the village.

Deoki Ramesh is bitter at the fact that she was turned down by the embassy five times as she seeks to visit her children in the USA
Deoki Ramesh is bitter at the fact that she was turned down by the embassy five times as she seeks to visit her children in the USA

Shyly admitting that he had just consumed a few shots of Ivanoff Vodka he sat down with me in the cool of a bus shed in the village and we began to chat like old pals. He opined that Hague was one of the most beautiful villages on the westside, boasting that it was inhabited by races that lived in perfect love and harmony.
“Bai this village musbe de best wan in dis Guyana hea… Abidese does live like wan he wid nuff, nuff love fuh wan an atha. In dis village we nah get racial difference or nobady nah fight an quarrel between wan anatha. Everybady does live like brothas and sistas… Like wan big happy family….. In dis village nah get black, and white, and coolie and potaghee. Is wan people, wan nayshan, wan destiny…”.
Deoki Ramesh who operated a small food stall alongside the public road shared the same sentiments but voiced her concern of being turned down by the embassy five times as she attempted to secure a two-week vacation with her children who reside in the USA.
“Bai, me totally agree with everything da man ah tell yuh, but me get want thing wha ah really batha meh. Me is a poor woman and all me does duh is sell by de roadside fuh mek ah

Such refreshing camaraderie
Such refreshing camaraderie

extra dallah. Dem pickney deh outside fuh years now and nah mattah how me try fuh just guh spend wan lil vacation wid dem, me ah evah get through. Five times… Five times mistah!!! Five time me approach de embassy and dem turn meh down!!! Imagine dah eh… Me can’t tell when last me see dem pickney and me does cry bittah tears night time fuh dem. Dem embassy people ah behave as if me ah wan thief, or like if me nah gon come back… Me ah wan ole, ole woman… All me want fuh duh is guh see me pickney dem, yet dem people dis ah behave like ah beast and ah turn me down every time…”
That aside the woman explained that she would normally get up from her bed from around 03:00 hours and would prepare her mauby, egg balls, poulouri, channa and other snack items and would trudge out to her stall on the public road about 07:00 hours. She stays there marketing her items until 16:00 hours before retiring for her night rest to take up duties by the roadside the following day.

Liming by the roadside
Liming by the roadside

Taxi driver Ganesh Persaud bestowed high praises on Government for ensuring that they enjoyed good electricity and proper water supply. He also said that most of the village enjoys excellent drainage, except for some areas in the Hague backlands. He noted that a main canal allowing water to several large rice fields in the area was clogged and overgrown with weeds and grass in many areas, hampering much needed flow of water to young rice plants.
The village almost boiled over with the praises of residents for the present Government which they said has allowed them to enjoy paved roads, an effective telephone system and other necessities of life.
However at the Hague Front area some residents shared different stories and highlighted several challenges they said they were facing.
Shopkeeper, Clarence Mc Donald opined that while the village has a proper playfield, youths are unable to enjoy it since what he called ‘spiteful neighbours’ would

The state of some drains at Hague Front
The state of some drains at Hague Front

lodge complaints at the police station, with claims that the youths were too noisy.
“I don’t know why Government has even bothered to allow a playfield there. We have several talented footballers and cricketers in the village but they are unable to enhance their skills, since every time they turn up to play some very spiteful persons living around the playfield complain of ‘noise nuisance.’ I mean with those games, people shout and make a little noise but not the amount they are claiming. These people are just exaggerating and our youths are very frustrated.”
Some housewives fear for the safety of their children who are attending the nursery school at Hague Front. Many complained of the state of the bridge that allows access to the institution over a main canal. The structure when examined was found to rotted in several areas and had large holes in almost every corner.

The Haunted House of Hague (Folklore)

Mohan Persaud was very elated to shed light on the rich camaraderie that exists amongst residents
Mohan Persaud was very elated to shed light on the rich camaraderie that exists amongst residents

The tales of the haunted house in Hague must have sent chills up the spines of many who are prone to listen to tales of goblins, jumbies, bacchoos, demons and beings from the unnatural dimension.
On my visit there villagers seemed not to be able to shed light on the actual origin of such tales, but some did mention over hearing fables of the home having a discreet ‘inner wall’ from which demons howled and made ghoulish noises during the night time.
Some said that persons who actually resided in the house had reported of hearing footsteps and conversations in foreign language from that inner wall, hearing horse galloping, blood curling screams and even shocking commotions of human struggle, and mocking eerie laughter that rented the night skies.
However, the legendary musician, Dave Martins, who resided in the village, in his narrative tale of this house noted that Guyanese are fascinated by the notion of spirits. He also noted that Guyanese particularly seemed interested in in tales of spirits or demons that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The kind that has youngsters on bicycles wordlessly

Hague Nursery School
Hague Nursery School

shooting past the supposedly haunted house (the Coghlan house near Pouderoyen) The kind that had Mrs. Vieira, a resident in Vreed-en-Hoop, tying stuff under her bed to ward off spirits.
In reference to the haunted house at the entrance to Hague village, Martins in a narrated story said he was amazed to find how many people had bought into this canard. He noted that his family was somewhat connected to the very house, and in his own words this is what he wrote.

Taking shelter from the stinging rays of the midday sun
Taking shelter from the stinging rays of the midday sun

“I was born at Hague in the Barcellos house, at the Middle Walk junction. In fact, my mother, Zepherina Barcellos, and her four sisters and two brothers, were also born in that house. This, mind you, is not the infamous “haunted house,” but it pertains. My uncle Joe, my mother’s brother (he was married to a lady named Betty) had a general store halfway up the village, and a lovely upstairs house, where we later lived for a while. This is not the “haunted house” either – just hold on.
Farther up the village, Louis deSouza (he owned the Kaiser store on Lombard Street in Georgetown), in the late 1930s, had built one of the most beautiful upstairs houses on the west coast. It was on that corner where Hague turns to Den Amstel, on a wide curving piece of land on the waterside, with a clear view of the sea and constant sea breeze. At the time, the thing was practically a mansion. Now my uncle’s wife Betty was the daughter of Louis deSouza, so she naturally spent time there, and here’s how the whole “haunted house” story came about.
One afternoon, around 1940, with her six-week-old baby in her arms, Betty visited her father’s house, as she often did. She was standing by the window looking out to sea, and she suddenly collapsed. She was rushed to Dr. Cozier down the coast, and then to the Georgetown hospital, but in a few hours she was gone; autopsy later revealed she had died of a blood clot.”
“A very sentimental man, my uncle Joe was devastated by the loss of his young wife. In short order, he handed over the running of the Hague store to my mother and bolted to

Handshakes are quite common after farmers manage to net proper prices for their produce
Handshakes are quite common after farmers manage to net proper prices for their produce

Trinidad to start a new life. However, the suddenness of this tragic incident was disturbing to Hague folks, and in the months that followed (remember, the village had few distractions in those days) speculation about ‘spirit tekkin she’ arose.”
The explanation that Betty had suffered an aneurysm didn’t take hold; such things were little understood in those times. Furthermore, the notion of young Joe Barcellos, respected in the village, falling apart and bolting to Trinidad, suggested other forces at play, and before long the rumour was that the deSouza house was haunted by a lady – supposedly the reason for Betty’s collapse.”

Catching up on some 'roadside gaff'
Catching up on some ‘roadside gaff’

The interesting thing is that in the 20 years or so I lived in or visited Hague (my aunts never moved), although I heard a number of juicy tales about a range of things, not once did I hear even a hint of anything odd about the deSouza home. No haunted-house talk reached my ears, but it must have started, because in later years, when three other people died in that same house, one of them a pastor, the speculation became fact – “da house haunted, buddy” – and now it seems to have become part of our folklore.
It is the way of such things that logic is often out the window. Apparently, nobody stopped to consider that, for example, there were several houses in the village where several people had died, including the very Barcellos family house by the Middle Walk.”
“Also, inherently – and this is where I started out – we are a people inclined to this view of the spirit world. It is part of our culture; it defines us; if we spot an opening for it, we go there, and moving back to Guyana I can see it in action.”
“Ironically, just two months after I returned here to live, a Guyanese fan of my music, telephoned me from London to enquire about my plans. In the course of a long conversation, he mentioned that his father had bought the deSouza house at Hague, had done some remodeling, and then had sold it to someone else.”
“He referred to the “haunted-house” rumours as nonsense, and we had a good a laugh over it.

This lone rum shop offers entertainment for the Hague Back residents
This lone rum shop offers entertainment for the Hague Back residents

And that, in a nutshell, is the straight ganga about the Hague house.”
However, I’m not kidding myself. I know enough about this culture to know that whatever I have to say on this matter will not make an iota of difference to the haunted-house adherents. Although the Hague corner house is considerably changed from how I knew it in the 1950s, people will persist in their belief that the “jumbie deh deh”; ask about it and you will be told so.”
“At best, it is actually a cultural expression, and no talk from anyone will change that – so it go.”

Who is Dave Martins?
It is said that the songwriting skills of Dave Martins would set the pace for the popular Tradewinds and set them aside apart from the many of the talented groups in the Caribbean. A naturally gifted writer, able to achieve the difficult task of writing in many forms (calypso, ballad, folk, pop). As suggested by information taken from the www.google.com website Dave Martins has caught the flavour of life in the Southern Caribbean in a unique way.
Winner of the 1970 CBC-TV Cross Canada Song Competition (from over 1,800 entrants) and awarded the prestigious Golden Arrow of Achievement award by Guyana in 1977, Martins feels his migration to North America played an important role in his development as an artist.
He moved to Canada which gave him even more appreciation for Caribbean life that allowed him to pen song subjects that others may have overlooked. ‘Copycat’, for example, ‘West Indian Suitcase,’ ‘Where Are Your Heroes,’ ‘It’s Traditional’ — those songs could only come from someone who has lived in both cultures. On the other hand, Creations such as ‘You Can’t Get’, ‘Play De Ting’, ‘Not A Blade of Grass,’ ‘Mr.Rooster,’ etc., are rooted in the Guyana/Caribbean experience. As a writer, Martins has to his credit a Caribbean musical, Raise Up-Is We, commissioned by Guyana for the 1988 celebration of full emancipation and staged by Ron Robinson in the Caribbean and the U.S.A.
He also writes an annual comedy review on the Cayman Islands that plays to full houses in that country’s Harquail Theatre. What’s left to do? There is a fantastic musical in the story of the Caribbean migration to North America from the 1950’s on.
Dave Martins even unto present day continues to be a musical icon both locally and on the international front that never fails to leave a lasting impression.

The glorious beauty of Hague Back
I have to agree my dear readers that Hague Front is very appealing and soothing to the senses. But it was my journey to Hauge Back in a taxi that rolled at a leisurely pace that took my very breath away as they driver engaged me in cheerful conversation.
As we left the slightly busier Hague Front, a certain calm seemed to take over as quite refreshing and super-cool wind floated though the car window casting ruffled waves through the hair of my driver.
As we drove down a winding, well asphalted road, lush green rice fields took over on both side, floating by in a hazy green that caused by jaws to drop open. As if flaunting their beauty for all to see, the young rice plants seemed to dance in ‘rhythmic glory’ as the wind caressed them hazily.
Healthy looking coconut palms, took up their ‘nature dance’ waving their sultry branches in a ‘swan like plant waltz’ that truly depicted the intense beauty of the tropics. And in the midst of fields and on well levelled dams, young boys were either casting nets in ponds, yelping in delight as their nets brought home glossy looking patwah, hurri or sun fish all wet and slippery with scales glistening.
Farmers rode by chatting cheerily on bicycles, their calves and bulging biceps all caked with mud from their toils in the rice fields.
There were these mesmerising patches or ‘natural groves’ that sported a fusion of guavas, mangoes, genips, dunks and cashew trees all laden with fruits, the very juice almost dripping from the insides. Trenches and canals gurgled almost dreamily, the black water made a glistening ‘marble like’ spectacle by the hot rays of the afternoon sun.
The noisy chatter of students filled the air as they made their way from school, broken occasionally by their reluctant goodbyes as parents and elders arrived to whisk them away from friends in cars, trucks and bicycles.
Colourful houses rolled by on both sides sporting kitchen gardens and a beautiful array of ‘flower plant species’ that added classic beauty to homes and lended an enthralling ‘countryside allure.’
I was greeted with endearing smiles and sincere salutations which made it difficult to leave as the driver almost pried me apart in impatience from the hugs of a merry grandmother he pleaded with me to return at the earliest possible opportunity.

Hague in times gone by
Just in case you are wondering what Hague looked like in years gone by you will be thrilled to know that the village has always held a maintained ‘classic appeal.’
And to shed light on this issue was the cheerful elder Loomattie Tulchand who just would not allow the cameras despite the earnest pleading of her giggling granddaughters. Being a teacher in her days she was surprisingly well spoken and active for a seventy-five-year old.
“In my time as a young girl this village was not as developed as it is today. There were not so many houses and the land was low and watery in many areas. But we always had wide open fields and beautiful pastures, and lots of avenues for farming. Even before Government intervened and gave us the proper water, electricity, and the many luxuries we are enjoying today, this village always had potentials of becoming one of the ‘standout villages’ in Guyana. And I know with a little more work put into it, Hague can be made a distinct tourist attraction. Hague is the perfect place to rest and relax, away from the troubles of the world…”

Entertainment
Hague does not have any ‘big time’ nightclubs or discos to offer entertainment but villagers are amazing not missing out on anything it appears.
According to residents they are quite contented to wait for wedding and birthday celebrations which can last for up to two weeks if allowed. Villagers at such times would engage in great festivity as they dance and revel the night away, consuming alcohol and enjoying delicacies made from beef, pork, mutton and sometimes fish.
Those that desire the joys of night life would journey to Parika, Vreed-en-Hoop and other areas to do so.

Worship and Education
The residents of this village are highly religious and would worship at places like the Hague Front Sarawati Devi Mandir, the Old Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church. While these two houses of worship can be found at Hague Front, there is also another mandir at Hague Back also.
The village also houses Hague Nursery School which is not far from the public road

Conclusion
I am too bowled over by the beauty of this village, and I am afraid my choice of words would not give it the deserved credit.
So I urge you to hurry down there and enjoy the ‘Hague Experience.’

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