The magic of Christmas

The poet of the Masquerade band sang, “Christmas time is here again and every man must have his share, but poor brother Willy in de jail will drink only sour ginger beer, music!”
With flute and kettle drum they enchanted us, mystical characters like the raging bull, the long lady, Ole Higue and the flouncing nature spirits danced for a valued 50-cent piece that the tempting, aged Wilson’s hat beckoned from the pockets of working folk, while we stingy not -working youth held close our 10 and five cent pieces with comic books and ‘caps’ in mind, for our Cisco kid, frontier 45 and Apache toy guns.

Hypnotised by western films with its bravado tough talk and fast gun swagger, though effective distortions of early American history, yet, in those colonial days of colonised cowboys you were not ready unless you had a leather holster bought from a stand in Stabroek Market, with leather hanging cords to tie around the leg, just like in the movies.

A smiling woman controlled that stall, as well as Mrs Ifill who was in charge of her book stall and knew all the names of the comics on her comic book and magazine stall located straight from the market’s main gate. Christmas cannot be separated from children and when Fogarty’s Store was sold, had the people who bought it had the cultural memory of that rocking horse that everyone wants to be cowboy was excited to ride just once, then possibly again, that stood in the entrance of the store, they would have preserved it. It was truly a symbol that unclasped a time of Christmas in Georgetown.

The masquerade band of 2018 lacks the orientation of what it used to be, whether those yesteryear folk did not have the full complement of the costumes or not, they captured a rhythmic expression that was exclusive to their cultural domain. I have heard of the legends, Goblet Joe, Freddie Bandula, Putagee Tonus of the Centipede[Santapee] Band, so named as far back as the 20s /30s when these bands banished any masquerade outfit that dared to venture in their area with physical blows and weapons like barber razors and fish hooks tied on staves.

But the more serious insights into the masquerade came while living with my godparents at Mahaica, my godfather Abel, had a friend named Moshe, pronounced ‘Moshey’, he played the flute in the masquerade band and once, I transgressed one Christmas season while in a good mood sitting in my godfather’s work shop [he was a plumber by trade] and blurted out to uncle Moshe, “Uncle Moshe but is whey longlady, bad bull and all them come from ? ” My godfather gave me that stare that indicated what are you doing?

I blurted out my apology for jumping in the big people conversation and got up to retreat, uncle Moshe whispered something to my godfather and he halted my retreat, “ whey yuh going, uncle Moshe wan tell yuh a story” and that’s how I learnt another interpretation of the masquerade band, one that I am now scripting for a special series. The season of Christmas envelopes the ancient mystical harvest festivals of the winter solstice, based on the cosmology, New Moon etc. those events range from August to December among different peoples across the human world.

This was the time when the ancients believed the earth to rejuvenate itself, and there is a whole theory that envelope that belief system among humans not entirely based on superstitious dabbling. Thus it was easy for the events that constitute Christmas to resonate in our ancestral memories, cleansing of homes, casting out of old unusable things, sharing gifts, rituals of purification, and reverence for the symbolic sacred tree. The art of agriculture to this day is guided by cosmology, the Moon, the darkest night, are related for better times to plant certain vegetables and fruit like tomatoes. Whether these systems are based on legitimate scientific formulas, only further exploration among the exports can truly conclude.

I will not debate the authenticity of Christmas; its elements are far more important even outside what human schemes have done with the man made religions, which from its intent could have only evolved from the most vile and callous of our specie, exploiting the genuine belief of goodwill, when expectations of trust erase all suspicions, creating the perfect vulnerability for treachery. Like this example-scenario of the drug dealer that holds a Christmas party in a devastated district saturated with addicts, who’re the parents of the very children the dealer will feed and give toys to for one day, in some ritual act to sooth his conscience or sate the suspicions of society.

Christmas envelopes ideals of family, appreciation and charity that are not normally active allyear round, its special music and sentiments are necessary, it is directed at children and their joys. What interferes with it are the unavoidable commercialism and the lack of the ability to fulfil those impositions of ‘New Things’ but if you have ascended that latter aspect, have the humble ‘pepper pot, cake, baked stuff and a few beverages, Toys for the children-a must, cards and token gifts for your special people, then you’re ready and set for a happy 2018 Christmas.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.