FOR me, one of the better parts of the Christmas season this year has been the Christmas village created on Main Street in Georgetown. Aside from my childlike wonder at the lights draped on the trees throughout the avenue, I have a deep sense of appreciation for the space provided for people like myself to enjoy.

On Sunday, for example, my friends and I spent hours just sitting and chatting on a bench along the avenue on Main street. We played an occasional human bingo- trying to spot someone with a pink mask or green hair.

We were there with a Guyanese friend who lives in Trinidad, but was visiting for a few days. We spent weeks trying to figure what we could do to give him a taste of Guyana- and better yet, a taste of a quintessential Guyanese Christmas time- without travelling far and wide.

And that’s where the brilliance of the Christmas village manifested. It was like the Regent Street of a Guyanese Christmas- you know, that place where you find everything, from the food to the locally made gifts (some small businesses, which makes it even better). For a brief period, you could have enjoyed Guyanese talents- song and dance, including the traditional masquerade, which is yet another beloved Guyanese Christmas tradition.

Importantly, too, when you think of places to ‘hang out’ and ‘hold a vibe,’ the first places that come to mind for me are the malls and theatres, or for a slightly classier experience, a restaurant or a bar. There’s nothing wrong with any of those places but sometimes, I think it’s nice to have something different.

And I think that was why I really connected with the Main Street Christmas village. It was just someplace you visited because you don’t feel like you have any other feasible option; it was someplace you wanted to go to.

What made this experience all the more enriching is that there aren’t many spaces similar to this, in Georgetown, where I think I would be comfortable just sitting around and enjoying each other’s company- while still possessing the ever-present options of having something to do. Out there, for example, we could have walked around and enjoyed the lights, we could have bought ice cream, or we could have checked out a booth. You know?

Because I am doing a course that encompasses a bit of urban development and geospatial planning, I became curious about the benefits of spaces such as these. More formally, spaces such as these are part of green infrastructure. And Carr et al. (1992) posit that public space can help satisfy people’s needs, shape, define, and protect significant human rights, and convey special cultural meanings.

If you think about that position and Main Street, I think it satisfies that need for some shared space that makes you feel as though you’re part of a much wider community and it helps to convey that quintessential Guyanese Christmas feeling of being surrounded by those things- whether food, gifts or people- that gives tangible meaning to the celebrations.

Certainly, in these ‘Covidious’ times, the only slightly off-putting factor was that the sheer number of people out there were enough to make me anxious about the spread of the novel coronavirus. Still, if you were diligent enough, you could find a smaller space to make your own (in our case, we were lucky that we found a bench and it was ours all night).

So, while we’re here reflecting on Christmas Day this year- and possibly praying that next Christmas could come soon enough- I think it is nice to appreciate that we have this space.

Before I go, I wanted to point out that I was younger than 10 years old when the ‘Main Big Lime’ was in full swing so I barely have faint memories of what that was like. Still, I imagine that the Main Street Christmas village is not a distant concept. And so, when I hear my older friends talk about Main Big Lime, I feel like I can understand where that sense of nostalgia is rooted in.

If you would like to discuss this column or any of my previous writings, please feel free to contact me via email: vish14ragobeer@gmail.com