One of the grandest and most important indigenous Christmas time performances in the Caribbean and Guyana is the masquerade tradition. One part of this great tradition may be seen every Christmas on the streets of Georgetown: small bands of youths dressed in some costuming, prancing among the motorists to the sound of a drum. But this is a mere relic of this ancient street performance, which exhibits more about its moribund state than about the tradition itself. What is worse, the motorists and the citizenry of the city barely tolerate them displaying a sense of annoyance which, in another year or two, is guaranteed to see these bands disappear altogether.
In stark contrast to this
