What mighty contests rise from trivial Things
-Pope The Rape of the Lock
…divers coloured fans, whose wind did seem to glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, and what they undid did
– Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra
Guyana’s major national festival Mashramani exploded in colour, spectacle, performance, revelry and music in February 2013 as the nation celebrated its Republic anniversary. The anniversary took on considerably greater significance because of its coincidence with other historical landmarks such as the 250th anniversary of the 1763 Berbice Slave Rebellion. To give some emphasis to this association and to give some force to the Minister of Culture’s pronouncement that Mashra-mani is more than festive abandon, the Department of Culture presented a series of public lectures by three of the most outstanding Caribbean historians, Hilary Beckles, Alvin Thompson and Verene Shepherd, and the launching of a book by A J McR Cameron about the 1763 Uprising during the festival period. This gave some