Dear Editor,
I have written on this before, so I am not standing on any bandwagon today. Friday, 23rd February 2024 was Republic Day, it was also Mashramani Day, a day of celebration and dancing in the streets, like almost everything else going on in this country, it’s wrong and it offends me.
I’m not going to dwell on our track record as a nation since becoming a Republic, it’s certainly not, in my opinion, a reason for celebration, the fact that almost all qualified Guyanese opted to leave rather than stay and Mash, proves the point.
I am not a Bible thumper Editor, I certainly have been very remiss in my observances for a very long time, and my lifestyle is certainly not one which is riddled with piety and righteousness, I am however a very staunch Christian specifically a Catholic. According to the 2012 national census, the most recent one available to me, 64 percent of the Guyana population identify as Christian, 25 percent Hindu, and 7 percent Muslim (mainly Sunni).
Years ago, I was sent to boarding school at a Catholic Monastery in Trinidad and they gave me a thorough introduction into the fundamental theology of the Catholic religion, so that to this day, I am a staunch believer, but, and this is my reason for writing today, I saw firsthand seven Trinidadian carnivals, and what happened before and after it.
For Christians and indeed Catholics, carnival is a celebration which is conducted on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, as a preparation for the somberness of Lent, the 40-day period before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This year Ash Wednesday was February 14th which marks the beginning of Lent, and for Christians it identifies a very holy period of 40 days before Good Friday. In Trinidad after carnival and for the 40 days of Lent, the radio and TV never played calypso music etc. until the end of Lent. It’s not as rigid now as it was 60 years ago, but certainly having Mash in the middle of the Christian Lent is offensive to me. Guyana would do much better to have Mash on the Monday 12th February and Tuesday 13th February before Ash Wednesday this year. Trinidad, Brazil, Spain, Italy and New Orleans and France [Mardi Gras] all observe those same days as celebration time before the onset of Lent.
But it goes to show the “eye pass” for Christians by everyone including Burnham, to initiate such a holiday of celebration at that time, in a country such as this, with over 60% Christians. And again, I must add, in anticipation of certain reminders, yes, we joined the British and the Americans and supported Burnham instead of Jagan. It does not matter that Dr. Cheddi was a good and honest man, actually I wonder what he would say if he came back and compared his house to his successors’ in the PPP, but his politics made him a political leper in this hemisphere in his day, and the result of all the socialism and communism we had to endure has left our people the lowest paid and poorest in the entire English-speaking Caribbean. We were forced to tolerate the lesser of two evils. Hobson’s choice.
So Mr. Glenn Lall can be assured that I will never be joining any Mash celebration, not because of the teachers strike, which I am completely in sympathy with, but because this celebration at this time in Lent, offends me and on behalf of those who are more devout Christians than I am, I would like someone to pay attention to the fact that there are many of us who don’t agree with it, or wouldn’t if we explained its inappropriateness to them. Why can’t Mash move to the 12th and 13trh February, the two days immediately preceding Ash Wednesday only 10 days Editor.
How important is religion to people? Some years ago I was having lunch with two of my favourite people Winston Murray and Fenton Ramsahoye, Winston asked Fenton what was his latest case in the Privy Council in England, Fenton told him that he got the Trinidad government to replace their highest national award, “The Trinity Cross” for the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (abbreviated O.R.T.T.) in the year 2008. Much later at his funeral the eulogy was given by his law associate who later became the attorney General of T&T Anand Ramlogan, he told those assembled that Sir Fenton told the Privy Council in England, that giving the Trinity Cross to a Hindu man, was like giving a prize of a leg of lamb to a vegetarian.
Yours faithfully,
Tony Vieira