By Dacia Whaul
Christmas has so many traditions. There’s the food: pepperpot, garlic pork, black cake; sorrel, ginger beer, chocolates; the fixings: Christmas tree, decorations, curtains, gifts and of course the family. And lest we forget, there is carolling, which has the effect of reminding us of the reason for the season.
Christmas carolling ushers in the day Christians designate to celebrate the birth of Christ. In Guyana, at one time, nearly every street corner had a blend of high, low, husky, melodious and often annoying friendly voices, evoking the spirit of Christmas. Carollers would pass through neighbourhoods, on horse driven carts, trucks or on foot, with and without musical accompaniment, singing.
The Salvation Army
According to Major Carolinda Cumberbatch, who is Director of Women’s Affairs with the Salvation Army (SA), though carolling has long been a part of the SA, it is difficult to attach a date to when carolling started. She believes it coincided with the ‘Red Kettle Appeal’ in San Francisco in 1891 by Captain Joseph Mc Fee, who wanted to raise money to feed the poor during the Christmas season. Kettling, she said, is used as a means of raising funds for the many charitable works the SA does both at Christmas and during the year.
Cumberbatch told Stabroek News that many years ago in Guyana, after corps (church) members came off from kettles on Christmas Eve, they went around to the stores in Georgetown, carolling for approximately two hours. “It was something older folks enjoyed doing,” she said.
Today Cumberbatch said, not much carolling is done. She believes the tradition is fading, because young people are not interested in carolling.
Cumberbatch further mentioned that last December a few of the musicians went around to the areas where the ‘Red Kettles’ are located and played music. This year, she continued, a few of the older folks from Georgetown Citadel Corps did some carolling at some of the spots where ‘Red Kettles’ were placed. Those spots included Fogarty’s Department Store, Republic Bank, Guyana Stores and the City Mall.
Audrey Spence, SA Citadel Corps Treasurer, told this newspaper that she has been involved in carolling since she joined the SA in her childhood (sometime in the 1960s). Spence opined that carolling brings alive the real meaning of Christmas-the birth of Christ. In reflection, Spence declared that carolling in the past with the SA was “grand. It was the SA Songsters (carollers) and Brass Band that went carolling in those days…It used to be a big contingent, even Timbrelists went.”
According to Spence, when she was a child, SA carollers joined other carolling groups on the steps of St George’s Cathedral for an event called the “live Christmas tree”. There, carolers would assemble themselves in the shape of a Christmas tree, then sing for people passing in the vicinity of the church for hours.
In her nostalgic reflections of carolling, Spence said it ushered in the season and helped to educate the public on the birth of Christ, hence, the true meaning of Christmas. Carolling in the different wards of Georgetown and other parts of Guyana, Spence further mentioned, saw onlookers who express gratitude for the kind wishes from carolers. “People would come out and listen to us sing,” Spence said
The Woodside Choir
The Woodside Choir, one of Guyana’s oldest choirs, though secular, did a lot of carolling in the past. This is according to the choir’s accompanist, Marilyn Dewar, an accomplished pianist who has been playing the piano since the 1960s.
Dewar recalled that during the 1980s the group visited hospitals and old folk homes and carolled for them. “I remember we used to go and carol in Company Path under the big tree, now the Non-Aligned Monument,” Dewar recalled with pleasure. “We use to get a truck and put the piano inside and we went down there and sang out there for about two nights.” According to her they would sing traditional Christmas carols, like “Once in Royal David’s City”, “While Shepherds Watched” and “Go Tell It On the Mountains”, just to name a few.
However, Dewar said, that the tradition of carolling for the Woodside Choir was temporarily aborted at that spot because of a terrible crime wave in Guyana in the 1980s. She said too that many members of the choir were afraid to go out at night. “What happened in the society used to impact on the cultural things,” she explained. “They [the choir] only went to homes after the pause from the big tree.”
Today, Dewar said, though the choir still maintains the tradition of carolling, availability is a big issue. Most of the Woodside members who had the time and volunteered to carol in the past, have now aged.
The younger, newer members are either consumed with family, studies or their careers, hence their unavailability. However, for the season so far, the choir has carolled at the Tourism Awards ceremony, the Ptolemy Reid Centre, New Vision Church and at the annual Festival of Carols at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Brickdam. The Woodside Choir will host its annual Christmas concert on December 29 at Christ Church from 6 pm.
Asked if she thought Christmas carolling was dying, she said that it was to some extent. Dewar said she believes the traditional way of carolling is dying.
However, she pointed out that there are still small pockets of carollers maintaining the tradition. One of her examples was the Joint Services Choir. However, all attempts made to have an interview with the Director of Music Cecil Bovell proved futile. She also mentioned the Salvation Army and other community (church) groups.
Better Hope
A desperate search for one of the community/church groups, led to the Better Hope Assembly of God (AOG) Church on December 17. Both the young and the old gathered outside the church that is located at 39 Sukhai Street, Better Hope, East Coast Demerara.
Some members had musical instruments like the triangle, a Congo drum and a tambourine which they played as they strolled through the streets of Better Hope, singing traditional Christmas carols like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Joy to the World”. The ever-popular “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, though not a carol, was among other songs sung.
Youth Ministry President of the church Steven Persaud said that as far as he knew, there was never a hiatus in Christmas carolling for the 30 years the Better Hope AOG has been in existence. “Everyone looks forward for the nights we would go carolling,” said Persaud, smiling.
Some church members also come out during the last week before Christmas and stroll down the streets calling out “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,” he said. Members who live outside the community are not left out, Persaud said, as they would hire three buses and drive into the communities where members live and spread the spirit of Christmas. “For example, we have members who live in La Parfaite Harmonie.
We go and carol for them too,” Persaud proudly pointed out. He joked that the snacks that are prepared by the members must influence the massive turnout, especially on the last night of carolling.
