AS Guyana welcomes the celebration of the 49th year of gaining republican status, under the theme ‘Celebrate Mash 49 with victory in mind; rediscovering Eldorado’, the Ministry of Social Cohesion reminded citizens of the importance of the commemoration and the plans for 2019.

At a press briefing on Monday morning, Mashramani Coordinator Andrew Tyndall said that the ministry has planned a total of 39 activities on the calendar of events, which will be carried out in a span of six weeks; from January 12th to March 9th.

With a budget exceeding 70 million, the ministry hopes for much participation from the people and the private sector. “For Mash 2019 we are looking to improve on what we would have done in 2018, and as you would know, we would have started rebranding the Mashramani festival and a major part of that was taking some of the national events, out into the regions,” Tyndall said.

He highlighted the success thus far, as they have already kick-started with the list of events which includes an ‘all-stars’ concert in Mabaruma. According to Tyndall, the concert saw the attendance of 1500-2000 persons and that is being looked forward to at the other activities across the regions.

He shared that the ministry, this year, has added pop-up concerts to the list of activities as we go through the season.
“This is a new addition and a way of sensitising the general public of what is happening, but it also provides a platform for artistes to promote their music. We found over the years that, that has been a challenge for the artistes, so we feel we needed to do more to address that,” Tyndall said.

Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr George Norton spoke about the improvements made over the years and urged that persons embrace the true meaning of Mashramani. “This year we are striving for our celebration to be much more organised, much more structured, and to engage all the administrative regions in the national activities. It brought me such pleasure to see the people in Mabaruma this weekend, how involved they were at the show that was held and how they embraced our local celebration. It was so great that the people in Port Kaituma are asking when we are coming to their sub-region,” minister said.

In relation to Mashramani being a dying cultural activity, given the recent adoption of other cultures in Guyana, the minister said that the ministry cannot stop persons from adopting other countries’ concepts, but the onus is on the citizens to preserve and embrace what is ours. On that note, Tyndall pointed out that what is different with Mashramani and other similar activities, is that Mashramani is a celebration of our culture, whereas most of the other activities are party-driven.

“The onus is not just on the Ministry of Cohesion to ensure that Mashramani remains relevant, the onus is on every Guyanese. It will be relevant as much as we want it to be. It’s our festival and even if we look out and adapt[sic] what is happening outside, we also have to realise that role in preserving what is ours, celebrate something that is uniquely Guyanese amidst all the things that are being introduced to society,” he posited.

When asked about the ministry’s method of ensuring modesty with costumes, Tyndall said that the judging sheet speaks to what the ministry would like to see, but at the same time they do not want to restrict creativity.

However, designers are asked to keep in mind that it is a family event and children will be out there so designs should be moderate. “We have to also remember that the festival has to evolve. You can’t expect to see costumes in 2019 looking like costumes in 1970 when it first started; but it must evolve and take all the other things into consideration,” he said.