By Gibron Rahim

“GOOD King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen.”
These lyrics are from the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” in which the titular good king goes on a difficult journey to give alms to a poor peasant. The song teaches a lesson in piety and compassion for others. The tradition of singing carols like these is slowly dying out. However, there are groups that work to keep carolling alive. Among these groups is the Woodside Choir.

The traditional door-to-door Christmas carolling that is the most recognisable is rarely practiced today. The Woodside Choir does not routinely practice this form any longer. There are numerous reasons for this, as was explained to the Pepperpot Magazine when we spoke to Marilyn Dewar, the choir’s accompanist. She explained that years ago the Woodside Choir, which celebrated its 60th year in 2012, would go carolling around Georgetown at various locations. They would also visit hospitals to bring some Christmas cheer where it was needed most. She noted too that they would also hold a concert at the site of the Non-Aligned Monument where a big stage would be set up.

As time went by and crime around the city became worse and robberies became frequent, the choir stopped their carolling around the city. The concert was no longer held by the Non-Aligned Monument. They still visit hospitals but not as frequently. This is due to another barrier that hinders the choir’s Christmas carolling. Dewar explained that it is costly to move the entire choir around from location to location as Woodside is a non-profit organisation. “Our motto is to sing for the joy of singing,” she said. The choir bears all its own expenses.

Despite these challenges, the Woodside Choir still makes itself available to sing when persons make requests of them to appear. Dewar noted that the choir will be performing at the Festival of Carols at the Brickdam Cathedral this coming Tuesday. They also appear at the Monument Gardens when invited to perform for events that are held there. “If people have functions and so on we go around and sing at Christmastime for them,” she also noted. Woodside’s folk singing branch also occasionally goes out to sing.

The Woodside Choir is scheduled to be at Nigel’s Supermarket on Friday, December 22 to sing for the customers while they do their Christmas grocery shopping. They have been doing this for the last few years. The choir also hosts its own annual concert that is normally held just after Christmas. This year’s concert will be held on Thursday, December 28 at 19:00hrs at Christ Church on Waterloo Street.

Dewar took the time to give the Pepperpot a preview of what the audience can expect from the concert. It will, of course, feature Christmas music. There will also be a feature called “Little Lion, Little Lamb” which involves the story around the birth of Jesus Christ. There will be different choruses singing along to music. Notably, a children’s choir – the Success Elementary School Choir – will join the Woodside Choir in singing for the first time. “They have been with us for years but with this cantata that we’re doing, one of the items in it involves the children’s choir singing along with the adult choir,” she noted. There will also be other performers. There will be a guitarist, in addition to other soloists. Woodside’s folk group will also be performing. Dewar was sure to emphasise that all of the music at the concert will be Christmas themed.

It is important to keep the Christmas carolling tradition alive. Dewar explained a few of the reasons for it being so vital. Looking around, she said, people do not know many of the old traditional Christmas carols. In addition to the Woodside Choir, she also teaches music at her music school. Around this time of year, her students would come to her and ask her for Christmas music to play. One of the carols she suggests is “Good King Wenceslas”. Her young students always react with surprise, having never heard of it. “I think it’s a good thing to keep the old traditional carols going,” she said. She explained that Christmas carols contain within them the traditions of Christmas as well as the meaning of the celebration.

It is clear that we need to keep the Christmas carolling tradition alive in Guyana. It may be true that carolling cannot be carried out in traditional door-to-door fashion any longer. Still, that does not mean that carolling cannot adjust to meet the circumstances of the times. Carolling is a vital part of preserving the traditions and meaning of Christmas. “The use of the carols [and carolling] is to keep the traditional carols going because if we don’t do that the younger ones coming up won’t know those and they will fade out.”