A shift in the New Year’s Eve party culture

Now that Christmas is over, we can finally start thinking about what to wear for Old Year’s Night or what some may call New Year’s Eve.

I will always remember growing up as a child and seeing my parents getting dressed up for the Old Year’s Night party. Back then, all the glamour was at Pegasus. For me, seeing them go off was absolutely magical and there was something special about this occasion that no other event/occasion managed to surpass. Perhaps it was the sentimental value attached to the night, and the fact that we were entering a new year. People felt the automatic need to get decked out or possibly it was the atmosphere and the social pressures that also accompanied the night; or perhaps a mixture of both. Whatever it was, it must have been lovely to pull out your ball gown once a year and feel like a princess. This is quite possibly the only time in Guyana when, I felt, people really had the urge to be extremely elegant and actually followed a dress code. I wasn’t allowed to go to New Year’s Eve (NYE) celebrations alone until I was in university for some very strange reason. My parents were/are really strict on some matters and there was always the curfew issue.

However, after I spent NYE in Guyana twice when I met the ‘legal party age’ in my parent’s eye, I watched the glamour of it deteriorate. It is no longer special and people all of a sudden don’t hold it out as something that deserves a special party anymore. With the entertainment environment hierarchy changing and