Text: Tiffny Rhodius
Photos: Jules Gibson
A display of colourful costumes brought down the curtains on the national finals of the Children’s Mashramani Competition yesterday, with many schools highlighting the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
Almost all of the regions were present at the National Cultural Centre to display their creative talents in costume in the topical and fantasy categories. Notably absent was Region Ten which took part in the dance and poetry and calypso rounds.
Starting off the day’s events were the younger children as usual. Many of the costumes in this category highlighted this year’s theme for Mashramani which is “Embracing our Diversity; Celebrating our Heritage.”
Results Topical
In the 5-7 age group, Sileina Fredricks of Georgetown displaying ‘Queens of the Botanic’ garnered the first place, while second place went to
Dellecia Granville of Region Three. Granville represented Patentia Primary and her costume was ‘One Unity! One Destiny in Caricom’. Third place went to Tyrese Gomes of Region Seven. Gomes represented the St John the Baptist Primary and his costume was ‘Steel Pan’.
In the 8-10 age group Georgetown again took the first place with its costume ‘Living our Heritage’, displayed by Aliyah Hoppie of North Georgetown Primary.
And in the 11-13 and 14-17 age groups, Region One and Georgetown were the first place finishers respectively.
Lue Ann Lowe of Port Kaituma Primary’s costume was titled ‘Guyana go LCD’ and depicted the greenery of our forests while Colleeta Simon of Cummings Lodge Secondary displayed ‘Moulding our Nation’ a well made and displayed costume.
Second and third places went to Region Seven and Georgetown respectively in the 11-13 age group while in the 14-17 age group, second and third places went to Regions Two and Four respectively.
Results Fantasy
In the age groups 5-7 and 8-10, Georgetown and Region Four finished first with very contrasting costumes.
Winfer Garden’s ‘Queen of Love’ displayed by Tia Lane was all heavenly glitter promoting unity and happiness among other uplifting one word messages. On the other hand, Chateau Margot Primary’s ‘Fire King’ displayed by Romeo Fraser was a fiery explosion of red and gold.
Taking second and third places in the 5-7 age groups were Region Four’s ‘Water Queen’ and Region One’s ‘Rapunzel’ respectively. While in the 8-10 category Georgetown and Region Seven took the second and third place respectively. Georgetown’s Winfer Garden’s ‘The Beauty of Angels’ placed second to Barabina Primary’s ‘Crazy Caterpillar’.
And in the 11-13 age group Georgetown finished first while in the 14-17 age group, Region One took the first place. Winfer Garden’s ‘An Academic Dream’ was a bright golden abstract costume, while Port Kaituma Primary’s ‘Masacura Man’ depicted the legendary monster in his water habitat.
Rounding off the winner’s row for the 11-13 age group was Region Seven with second. There were only two costumes in the fantasy category for this age group. In the 14-17 age group, Georgetown’s ‘The Alien Red Dragon’ settled for second while Region Seven’s ‘Egyptian Princess’ rounded out the top three.
The LCDS bandwagon vs the miners
At yesterday’s costume competition there were many costumes depicting the LCDS and the need to preserve our natural resources while a few of the costumes were distinctively clad in yellow and the theme structured around gold mining.
Region Seven’s costume ‘The Rainforest Heart of our Economy’ had its porknocker dressed in yellow and well attired while he pulled around a mini forest which had his camp. Also depicting mining and its importance was Region Eight’s ‘Our health our Wealth’ which was a huge map of Guyana that had at its centre a picture of a porknocker panning for gold above the Kaieteur Falls.
And Region Seven’s ‘Miner’s Quest’ costume was of a water dredge occupied by a miner. Again the yellow costume theme was hard to miss. Even a fantasy piece by Region Seven called ‘Child of El Dorado’ was an all yellow abstract costume.
Meanwhile, the LCDS costumes were mostly depictions of trees whether it was rooting the earth in place or surrounding the map of Guyana, it was mostly green and the message of LCDS very clear.
One unique costume from Georgetown called ‘Back to Basics’ was simply a house with the slogan “back to basics in a low carbon era”. Surrounding the house were a windmill, a bicycle, a coal pot and on the roof a solar panel.
Meanwhile, today at 10 am the children’s costume parade takes off from Parade Ground and makes it way to the National Park. All the costumes featured at yesterday’s show will be part of the parade as well as little revellers.
