When the Guyanese nation celebrates Amerindian heritage it is like celebrating Guyana itself. The nation is indivisible from all of its races, but the marks of the Dutch and Amerindian are exceedingly pervasive, with the Amerindian roots particularly deep and its wide branches virtually defining the country.
Heritage will include different meanings for politics and politicians, for historians and archaeologists, but in cultural studies the Amerindian heritage is well nigh unfathomable.
The country derives its identity from its indigenous people. It is in the geography, the landscape, the linguistic vestiges, the folklore, the spirituality, the art, the literature and the creative imagination. It is not surprising that the image and culture of the ‘First People’ would be prominent when a nation seeks identifiable icons and national insignia, but the
