Dear Editor,

THE Guyana Christmas of the 1960s and 1970s was a unique experience when I grew up before leaving to study in New York. I have very fond memories of celebrating the Christmas and New Year holidays when I was a youngster. Although a Christian holiday, it has been accepted as a kind of secular holiday, especially that it signals the end of the year. It is associated with the birth of Christianity just over two thousand years ago. But it is widely observed by non-Christians (Hindus and Muslims) as well in Guyana and in the diaspora; a kind of secular-like holiday.
People all over the world associate the holiday with shopping for new items, including clothing and decoration for the home, gift-giving, feasting, exchanging cards, charity, watching parades, listening to carols, etc. Much of that was/is done in Guyana when I was a youngster, and is still fashionable.  And in addition, in Guyana, people watched the masquerade bands, going to the horse races and movies, visiting friends and relatives, etc.

In Guyana, Christmas offered the opportunity for renewal within the home; cleaning and remodelling and refitting the homes with new curtains, carpets, chadar or bedsheets, pillows, etc. Some even acquire new bartan (wares). The yard was clean as a whistle. Guyanese still hold on to these practices in North America and England, and probably so in the other parts of the diaspora in the Caribbean islands, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela (though it is experiencing economic problems), and Brazil.

My home did not have a Christmas Tree, but some people had a tropical tree on the front yard that was lit up.  Virtually no one could afford a North American plastic Christmas Tree or even decorations.  A few strings of lights illuminated homes. As family members migrated during the 1960s and 1970s, and sent home remittances and or decorations, more and more people could afford to put up trees, and decorate their homes with fancy lights that came from White countries. Homes were festooned with trimmings, balloons, flickering lights, and other colourful decorations. And the shopping districts like Rose Hall, Bloomfield, and Skeldon were somewhat decorated, but not as elaborate as today. And homes were lucky if there was electricity for the holiday season. Homes and businesses had electricity during the colonial period, and until electricity generation was in the hands of private companies.  Once government nationalised power supply around 1973, everything went downhill. Most of the year, during the 1970s and 1980s, there was no electricity; not in the rural areas, though the conditions improved during the 1990s, and remained poor up until a few years ago. Rural areas were inundated with regular blackouts, a regression from the period of White-man rule – wherever there were electrical wires, the white man provided regular source of electricity with hardly any blackouts.

No Guyana Christmas was without special music.  As in North America, Christmas Carols were very popular, and when I went to the Anglican School, we were required to go for church mass, and sang carols in praise to Jesus, a violation of a secular education. That was abolished in the 1980s. In Guyana, we heard the same carols as in North America, although there were local ones as well on radio stations; there was no TV until the mid-1980s in Georgetown and 1990s elsewhere.
Businesses advertised Christmas goods and services early, and radio stations and the lone newspaper (the Guyana Chronicle, as other papers were banned) started Christmas programming much sooner than in North America — around mid-November right after Diwali and Eid celebrations. The radios also played special local Black folk music and songs, and Black masquerade bands that played their brand of music on special instruments, accompanied by colourfully costumed characters dancing. Spectators cheered them on with coins, as is still a custom. There were also Black ‘moko jumbie’ dancers on stilts that required a special skill to remain standing. Christmas music was also performed in churches during regular worship services and in nativity plays on Christmas Eve.

Children received gifts. Children were told that their gifts were brought by Father Christmas. They were encouraged to hang socks and go to bed by midnight of Christmas Eve, so that Santa can bring their gifts. Gifts were opened in the morning, generally, with squeals of delight from the children. Toys, games, fake guns with belts, and clothes were some of the favourite children’s gifts.
Christmas Day was a time for special dishes of food. Animals were killed; goat, sheep, poultry, and they were curried. Dhal puri was a must; there was also pulourie, bara, alou pie, channa, etc., until Burnham banned flour, dhal, and all imports.  Almost everyone prepared pachounie. Families prepared an assortment of foods, cakes, and other goodies served with traditional homemade drinks like Ginger Beer, Mauby, Kool Aid, Pine Drink, Sorrel or purchased soft drinks. Some families could have afforded Cydrax and Peardrax, Mauby, and Sherry Wine or Madeira Wine. We were happy to get a very small slice of apple or a grape or a date (cajoor), or a taste of walnut. All imported drinks, foods, and fruits were banned by Burnham as ‘imperialist White man food’ around 1972. In my youth, one did not need an invitation to visit a family, although my parents discouraged such visits to avoid contamination of ingesting beef or pork that was absolutely prohibited in the family. A visit would result in a hot meal or a piece of cake and drinks, but only at homes where it was certain there would be no beef or pork. The adults imbibed liquor for the occasion, as children looked on waiting for a glass of soft drink and cake.

The season was a time for new clothing; everyone was well dressed with slick Brylcreem or Vaseline-laden hair for the day, especially for an evening walk or to the races or cinemas.
Christmas and or Boxing Day was a time for horse racing in Port Mourant, and even at D’Urban Park in town or the movies. It was a time when a new Bollywood movie was showing at the cinemas. My father took the younger male siblings to the races. Girls stayed home or went to the movie, or go late in the afternoon to the race course. My mother or sister took me and the young one to the movie around this time, all well dressed in short pants. As I came of age around 14, and started wearing long pants around age 15, I went to the races or the movies by myself with my peer group. The Christmas festivities repeated themselves for New Year.
Christmastime was associated with radio messages from loved ones in North America and the UK, as there was hardly any home phone service. It was a delight to hear a family’s name announced with greetings from a relative abroad. One can never forget the modest but cheerful celebrations of the past.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram