By Godfrey Chin
“There’s no place like home for the holidays,” is a truism for the Guyanese diaspora in their castles, caches or cubbyholes from Queensland, Australia to Queens, NY; Toronto to Atlanta; Vancouver to London; and even those in ‘purgatory’ in Barbados. As a Nostalgia buff, preserving the nuances and traditions of the true Guyanese Christmas spirit of yesteryear, let me share with you my best Christmas ever, in my seventh decade. In this instance ‘home’ is where my navel string is buried. Hell, the labba and creek water has kicked in, for me and Dave Martins. Who knows, might be a good idea to follow his example in connubial bliss.
Christmas started from the first week in December with Court’s Christmas tree lighting on Main Street, Fogarty’s Santa arrival and a plethora of holiday charity events to match the three Wise Men bearing gifts. Radio Dem’s Needy Children’s Party; NCN; the GDF; the government ministries and corporations; the public sector – all reaching out to the poor and needy with gifts and Christmas cheer. So splendidly ‘Guyanic.’ Soo soo boxhand collected – Christmas bonuses never enough – and frenetic Christmas shopping.
Most of the overseas diaspora left in the Banlon years of the seventies, when the shelves were bare and there were long lines to scrounge the necessities of life – flour, potatoes, sardines and cooking oil. Ya think it easy? Today every conceivable item: household and electronic appliances, Guess clothing, Gucci, Prada and Coach handbags, Liz Claibone and Elizabeth Taylor perfumes are in abundance in the myriad retail outlets plus with the enterprising hucksters/vendors squatting and overflowing the pavements into the thoroughfares. Christmas Eve last-minute shopping was wall to wall from Bourda to Stabroek Market; hucksters of every age and size selling a variety of toys – gaudy Xmas décor, metallic fringes and plastic flowers, hammocks, curtain rods by the yard and mosquito nets.
The Mayor and City Council Steelband on Regent Street beating out the Christmas hits; the mobile DJ vendors traversing the city jamming Slingshot’s ‘Christmas in Guyana,’ all added to the cacaphony of the holidays, along with the ubiquitous tooting of each vehicle as it approached every street crossing. In Bourda Market, the original wing in Regent Street was profusely decorated with colourful 18 inch balloons overhead, from the fish stalls to the butcher stands. Outside there were vegetables and provisions galore. A fistful of yard-long bora for $100; all the condiments for the garlic pork, pepperpot and cook-up; sorrel, ginger and passion fruit all at unbelievable prices without the 16% VAT. Eggs was a ‘man’ 3 for $100, so I will bake my sponge cake after the holidays.
GT&T’s Christmas Village on High Street and their Christmas Show in the Promenade Gardens were stupendous, as was their Christmas choral staff production. Even the Christmas graphics and programming on the various television stations were of a high standard and entertaining.
Downtown on Christmas Eve, 4 DJs were in full blast at Commerce and Longden Streets entertaining the West Coast shoppers scurrying to catch the river ferries, all the while gyrating, jigging with Christmas delight.
By 7 pm Prime Minister Sam Hinds and entourage were joining Sharma’s Channel 6 Christmas jollity, with a Santa plus steel band at Robb Street, and visiting the businesses in the environs (and he wasn’t last minute shopping). Wow! It’s so good to see senior govt reps milling and mulling with the natives in festive spirit.
The weather for the entire holidays was incredibly perfect – no snow as up north. A passing shower every foreday morning, a light drizzle on Christmas Day and a cool Atlantic breeze wafting across the city daily. But Christmas Day is for attending mass, staying home and opening presents, plus our lavish ‘thanksgiving’ lunches. Didn’t see many dollies for the girls, and guns and sockets for the boys were extinct as dodos. Toy guns today are Star war zappers from ‘Men in Black.’ Remote control cars and video games, etc, are the rage.
The Christmas broadcasts were highlighted by NCN’s annual ‘Dis is We’ and Ron Robinson’s ‘Stretched Out Magazine’ – both tongue-in-cheek satires on the local scenario and all taken in a good imbibing spirit. Add a gauntlet of Christmas goodwill messages and greetings and marketing promotions with lavish giveaways of motor cars, a year’s supply of groceries or million-dollar cash drawings.
The blue GT&T and red Digicel, rival top-up cash incentive promotions encouraged me to procure two cell phones.
On Boxing Day, gourmet meals at German’s, Pegasus Poolside, the Brazilian Churassco’s on Alexander and also Church Street, were sumptuous; and two visits to the magnificent New Thriving Restaurant on Main Street stretched my Pepperpot to Twelfth Night. Add in Maggie’s souse and black pudding, Shanta’s Pouri, Hack’s Halaal curry fish, and Pepper’s metagee.
Christmas Sunday was a delightful bonus with the Georgetown Club hosting their after lunch Open House with their top vaunted cook-men showing off their cuisine. There was Johnny Carpenter and his barbeque chicken; Lloyd Fung-a-Fat and Brian Young roasting a pig; Laurie Lewis with his tasty creole cook up; Major General Atherly and his grilled fish bites and labba; a prize-winning curry duck and even the Ambassador of Canada supplying kebabs of lamb. With the President, Minister of Tourism and the Leader of the Opposition all lunching with the local who’s who, and drinking, gaffing, ol’ talking I surmised that only in Guyana is this possible. At 6 pm the Woodside Choir had a magnificent Christmas concert at Christ Church.
Of course there were the usual lavish private dinners for overseas guests, family and friends, all adding to the Guyanese annual Christmas fare renowned for hospitality, sharing and giving – nuff love as engendered that first Christmas.
Ol’ Year’s night was individual choices: some at midnight mass; a spectacular public fireworks display by the GDF; ringing in the New Year with club hopping until sunrise from Pegasus, G’town Club, Buddy’s Princess Hotel, Police, Big Yard, etc. Then it’s the traditional peas and rice, left-over garlic pork and pepperpot, bake and salt fish. New Year’s Day Andrew King’s Open House was a pleaser and the Twelfth Night dinner hosted by Ian and Mary McDonald in Bel Air Gardens was my climax to an unforgettable Christmas 2009.
My only sad moment was David De Caires not being there for us to celebrate his birthday after lunch on Ol’ Year’s Day. But we all had a toast to his memory and legacy.
2010 promises to be an exciting eventful year – Mash in February coming up is a 40th year celebration.
You Guyanese overseas must heed Dave Martins’ recent new advice: ignore the bad press about road carnage, incest, hold-ups and the politicians bickering; Guyana is still an El Dorado. Come and see for yourself. Ya think it easy… Happy New Year!