Dear Editor,
As national and regional leaders plan for this year’s Mashramani celebrations and as fellow Guyanese prepare to take part in those activities, I merely want (through your medium) to remind fellow Guyanese that six significant anniversaries will occur this year.
I am encouraging the planners of and participants in the Mashramani and other national observances to include depictions of those anniversaries in their costume designs and other demonstrations.
The six principal anniversaries that Guyana will be observing this year are:
1.The 160th Anniversary of Chinese Arrival Day
2.The 375th Anniversary of African Arrival Day
3.The 250th Anniversary of the Berbice Slave Rebellion
4.The 175th Anniversary of Emancipation
5.The 175th Anniversary of Indian Arrival Day
6.The 190th Anniversary of the Demerara Revolt.
I shall certainly be doing my part in the Mashramani and emancipation celebrations that I am planning and hosting for my district—Buxton.
Yours faithfully,
Morris Wilson
Editor’s note
The first Africans did not arrive in this country 375 years ago in 1638, but some years before that. We know that six Africans were brought to Berbice in 1627, but there is evidence to suggest that they were in Essequibo before this date. Unfortunately, nobody knows at this stage exactly when they arrived there.
