Dear Editor,

THE end-of-year holiday season is upon us; what a year it has been for Guyanese Americans with election-rigging in Guyana and the global COV
ID-19 pandemic.  Guyanese New Yorkers are making prep arations to welcome the holiday yuletide cheer–Christmas and the new year–though the festivities are subdued as a result of the pandemic that has taken a heavy toll among Guyanese Americans and others.
Guyanese residential neighbourhoods and commercial areas are brightly illuminated with multi-coloured flickering lights and various party favours. Queens is a mini epicentre of the corona virus and hundreds of thousands of Guyanese are settled in the borough with thousands infected and hundreds dead from COVID-related symptoms. Too many are in mourning and trying to keep safe from the virus to be bothered with holiday cheer.

Nevertheless, the holiday season is one of expectancy among the large Guyanese population, especially children, in Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and other parts of America where they have settled over the last five decades.  Last weekend, the shops and restaurants on Liberty Avenue, Flatbush/Church, Cypress, and Westchester and Parkchester Avenues, the hubs of Guyanese and ‘Trini’ commercial activities, were buzzing. It was the final weekend before the Christmas holiday although shopping will peak Thursday for last-minute purchasing. Teems of people were seen shopping and ordering cakes and foods, though their wallets are thinned this year because so many lost their jobs as a result of a slowing economy brought on by the pandemic. Shoppers are not buying extravagantly as last year because of uncertainty of future job earnings. The U.S. government passed another stimulus bill this week to give every American and resident and even some qualified foreigners $600 to spend during the holiday, but that money may not get to consumers until after the holiday. The unemployed will also get an extra $300 a week in addition to their regular unemployment insurance benefits that range up to $750 a week for a maximum of 59 weeks.

In spite of slow economic activities, stores are well decorated for the season. Huge numbers of multi-coloured lights and other paraphernalia are on display in front of stores brightening them in the dark hours. The lights, trimmings and other decorations in Guyanese residential neighbourhoods rival those in any other community. Some Guyanese homes in Richmond Hill and even stores can win prizes for their extraordinary lighting arrangements.
One can purchase virtually everything related to Christmas at the dozens of Guyanese and other Caribbean stores that line Liberty, Flatbush, and other avenues. Guyanese come from distant places from as far away as Washington and Virginia to patronise the stores and restaurants on Liberty.
The stores on Liberty Avenue and the avenue itself are brightened for the yuletide season, well decorated with party favours and buntings hanging on light wires. Appropriate Christmas music emanates from stores, even among Korean-owned businesses; the latter fit in with the Guyanese culture to attract shoppers. In Flatbush, Caribbean people sang carols and rang bells on the sidewalks, soliciting donations to feed the homeless and other less fortunate people.
Near the restaurants and bakeries, the enticing aromatic smell of dainty dishes wafts in the air. The Guyanese bakeries and restaurants took special orders of food and snacks, including black cake, pine tart, and the like. The roti shops did very good business. Halaal meat shops were busy as usual for the season. Regardless of COVID, people have to eat, patronising meat stores, restaurants, groceries, and bake shops.

The Christmas spirit has been displayed over the last couple of weeks in residential areas as well.  The Guyanese neighbourhoods in Richmond Hill, Jamaica, Queens Village and other communities have an abundance of flickering multi-coloured lights on the exterior of homes.  Even the trees outside on the lawn are well decorated.  Lights in the shape of drapes, curtains and icicles hang down on ceilings and roofs. It is as if the houses engage in an unofficial competition for the best-decorated and most-lit title, not dissimilar from some homes in Guyana.
Just as in Guyana, the Christmas holiday festival in New York transcends religions. Christmas lights blink near fluttering jhandis of Hindu homes. Halaal shops and Muslim homes are also decorated on the outside for the end-of-year season.
This year the Richmond Hill community could not host its annual luncheon that normally attracts some 500, instead, they were treated to a virtual concert last Sunday. Mandirs also held a virtual end-of-year concert for their congregations.

Yours truly
Vishnu Bisram