TOMORROW, Guyana will celebrate Christmas in observance of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a significant religious event that is observed by Christians around the world.
Here in Guyana, Christmas is observed as a national holiday.

It is not just a day, but both the reason for and a part of the festive season. The relaxation of the 2 am curfew on entertainment venues, between December 22 and January 12, is partly to free up the festive mood!

When the Police Force band on Thursday took the Christmas spirit to State House, I reminded the gathering of something that I have read that said that Christmas is a state of mind. In this state, we wish for the ideals in life – love of humankind, peace and goodwill, and joy to the world.

For some of us, it is when we become children again. We re-live simple pleasures, remembering what had been, when we were swirling in the sweet smell and smiles of our caring parents, and bonding without inhibitions with our siblings.

As a village-boy, I enjoyed being in a bare-footed, rag-tag juvenile band. We used a discarded cooking pot as a drum, as we walked towards the big houses, singing carols on Christmas Eve at their doorsteps. We also wore cardboard masks and did an improvised jig as un-tutored masqueraders. Either of those would earn us a cupful of pennies, chunks of cakes, and enormous joy at Christmas time.

STACCATO OF PAPER BULLETS
We didn’t know real toy guns then, unless we went to the yards of the couple of rich folks in the nearby village. There, kids were dressed as cowboys. They wore gun-belts strapped to their waists, and sported Zorro’s masks. They “fired” at each other, hiding behind trees and posts, with the staccato of paper bullets being drowned only by shouts, “I got you! I got you!”

We also made noises of our own by placing chunks of carbons into an empty Ovaltine cup, with a single nail-hole at the bottom. We spat heavily into the cup, closed the lid and gave it a robust shake. With cup anchored firmly under the bare foot, a lighted match was put against the hole and, boom! our improvised bombs would go off. Simultaneously and triumphantly, our unrestrained happiness would explode!

Yes, our Christmas time was flavoured with both black and white cakes, the key ingredients for which were bought from teacher Nathoo’s shop – mostly raisins, prunes and currants. Those would be delivered to the village baker who would mash the dough in an elongated, open wooden trough. The dough would be parcelled out and laid on silver trays, which were pushed deep into a huge, clay oven. We went home with the warm trays of cake on our heads and in clothes saturated with the aromatic scent of essence and burnt sugar.

MAGICAL MOMENTS
Christmas then and now brings not only sweet nostalgia, but magical moments in an unreal world of twinkling lights and bright hopes. It is the hope that a toy is hidden away somewhere that would bring sparkling smiles on the faces of grateful children. For the elders, our soul is intoxicated with the joy of giving back the kindness and hospitality that we once enjoyed during our childhood.

Today, I send greetings on behalf of my Family and my Government to all Christians everywhere on this auspicious occasion, and to all our Guyanese brothers and sisters who observe this day as a national holiday, and as part of the season of peace, joy and goodwill. I share with you that special Guyanese feeling of home and family, of hospitality and grace.

BURY THE HATCHET
Christmas is a time when we try to bury the hatchet, suspend old hate, shake hands and make up. We extend the Olive Branch to our detractors and, as we switch on our festive lights, we share a thought for the less fortunate among us.

We celebrate with those who have achieved something new or special, whether for themselves or their communities during this year. We rejoice with our students who graduated from high school, from teacher-college, specialised institutions and from our university. And we celebrate the triumph of justice for Maurice Arjoon, who was unlawfully dismissed due to a political vendetta.

And we continue to light a candle for comfort for those who face momentary challenges and insecurities. Yes, our thoughts are with sugar workers who need all the help they could get soonest to keep them on their feet. Half-baked, bald-headed, 2020 elections promises can’t work.

Our government funnels some $32 billion or roughly $1 billion monthly to keep the industry from sinking. An additional $6.3 billion is earmarked for 2018 as a new lifeline to the embattled Guysuco, from which affected workers should get severance pay, even if made incrementally. Guysuco must additionally extend a relief package that includes an option for access to leased land for independent farming activities.

Life for retrenched sugar workers would not be easy, but all stakeholders should focus on the silver linings on the horizon and not allow ourselves to be lost in the politics of gloom and doom.

CROSSING MAJOR HURDLES
Getting to Christmas 2017 was not without many troubles, as were evident on the pavement and in parliament, as well. We held on tenaciously and patriotically to our sovereignty, our territory, our Guyana – all of it. We also crossed major hurdles such as the Georgetown fires and prison breakout. We tackled the municipal parking meter initiative, tax on private tuition fees, non-payment of solid waste contractors, bottled-up misunderstandings over wage adjustments for public servants, teachers, as well as sweepers/cleaners, etc. But we navigated around them and found solutions that were not entirely acceptable, but workable.

In the end, we all can look back and smile, as only Guyanese could do, that ours may not be the best place in the world. But Guyana is all that we have, that we love, and must cherish. So, when we say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” to family, friends and strangers, we do so feeling that we are blessed to be who we are – proud Guyanese, content with what we have, and hope for better days ahead.

Merry Christmas, Guyana!