In Mahdia, Boniface Fredericks laments the fact that nothing is indigenously traditional about Old Year’s or New Year’s Day in Mahdia.
“We do everything that is done in coastal Guyana. Old Year’s Day is a time of reflection and we sit around at home or in some public space in small groups or individually and reflect on what we did in the past year and what we could do better in the coming year. We cook a variety of cook up with black eye and red peas with beef, pork, chicken and tripe into the night. Peas is the food symbolic of abundance. Some of us go midnight service and after the service some of us go to clubs where we party until the break of day. There is nothing indigenously traditional about breaking New Year’s here.”
It is a sign of change and loss in some areas in the hinterland although in others many traditions still persist.
Cooking Indigenous and national dishes, sharing their gains, partying ‘til the break of day, prayers and praising at midnight and fireworks displays are all part and parcel of the festive season that makes up Christmas and the ushering of the New Year in Indigenous hinterland communities, much like coastal Guyana.
“It is a time of celebration and wishing for ourselves the best in the coming year and years as we bid farewell to the past year and hopefully learn from the experiences of the past to make our future brighter,” says Carl Peneux, of Orealla, in Region Six.
Orealla
Whereas Christmas is more a family-oriented affair in Orealla, on the Corentyne River, New Year is more community-oriented.
“The New Year’s Day celebrations really start on Old Year’s Day here, particularly in the evening. There is lots of cooking during the day and especially at night. They invite friends and relatives to share in the lunch or dinner. If it is not the traditional cook up, everyone tries to ensure that his or her pot has some food in it to break the New Year. This is so the pot will always be filled in the year ahead.
“We have a few churches in Orealla and they will keep services up to midnight when they ring the church bells to the background of the Glory Alleluia chants. After breaking the New Year in church, some may go home and eat and sleep or talk into the morning. Some may join the party goers who will engage in revelry until morning. They are the ones who would usually display fireworks which has become popular in hinterland communities as well.”
The toshao of Orealla usually gives a speech at whatever public space he might be, to wish the community well.
“On New Year’s Day there will be picnic at the creek, or on the beach at the river, or at spaces within the community. We have the local beverages like fly, sorrel and ginger beer. People don’t make ‘bambali’ and ‘piwari’ anymore. People go for the manufactured alcoholic beverages. People prepare special foods and share with whoever passes by. It is really a time of sharing and family members are united or reunited as the case might be. The foods are not the traditional type we had in the past,” Peneux said.
Santa Rosa
At Paloma, an area in the Santa Rosa village in Region One, which is part of the Santa Rosa Mission and Islands, Graham Atkinson has returned to spend the festive season with his elderly father, siblings and other relatives. He has been stringing up and tuning his guitar for the midnight mass at Santa Rosa and after mass he was planning to join others in waltzing away the morning to greet the New Year daylight.
Preparations have already been made for the shooting of the bamboo guns at midnight, which has been a tradition at Santa Rosa for over a century.
“As long as I can remember the firing of the bamboo gun is a part of the Old Year’s/New Year’s tradition. It is lighted like a cannon and it has that booming effect into the night. Apart from the Santa Rosa church bell, which is heard for miles around, you will hear the booming of the bamboo gun.”
One of the traditional activities that has been lost includes making of local beverages and storing them in special canoes made just to ferment the drinks or in special clay jars made for the drinks, like piwari and casiri, byproducts of the cassava, which are no longer made for these celebrations.
Absent too are the ‘Banchikillis’, the traditional Spanish Arawak quarto band, or live string-bands that were part and parcel of the New Year’s day celebrations. They have been replaced by all recorded stereo set music.
The lighting of a massive bonfire with people dancing around to the Banchikilli music are no longer a part of Old Year’s Night.
Hunting and fishing in groups to gather meat for the holidays are no longer done since the animals have either retreated deeper into the forests or they are not found in abundance as in the past. The fresh water fish stock, too, has been depleted with the pollution of the waterways and overfishing.
Like at Orealla and other hinterland communities, having food in the pot at midnight is an essential part of breaking the New Year, “So it’s cook up at midnight and the next day another round of the real pepperpot we call kadakura which is cooked from the cream of the cassava water, and which is skimmed off when the cassava water is boiled to make cassareep. We cook that with fish, bush meat or chicken. It depends.
In the past, the men in the family hunted and fished for meat for the Old Year’s and New Year’s feast. Now many people depend on what the shops and supermarket provide in terms of meat.
Atkinson said, “New Year’s Day is a day of thanksgiving for us. After breakfast we prepare for a big bush cook by our landing where we treat the elderly to a meal in which our cousins, aunts and uncles take part. It is always a joy seeing the merriment of the old folks as they enjoy their brand of socialising among themselves and with us younger folks.
“In the past, caroling from house to house was a big thing of the holidays among the young people. Some of the older folks try to do it but it is no longer the same.” In the past, the singers moved from house to house with lighted flambeaus and candles and from islands to islands in canoes with the flambeaus lighting the way.
“One of the beauty of the holidays is that lots of our people who live outside of the community return home to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. This adds to the ambience of the home and to the spirit of sharing and caring.”
At Waramuri, also in Region One, the celebrations are one of sharing and it is more communal in nature than at Santa Rosa, where the population is larger and where celebrations are localized to areas. Apart from cooking and sharing foods, partying, church going and general festivities to ring in the New year, this year, for the first time, with electricity now a part of the daily life of the community, football and volleyball were scheduled to be played under floodlights at Waramuri playground. The invitation has been extended to teams from neighbouring villages so they will be vying for some coveted prizes.
Surama and Parabara
In Surama and Parabara, in Region Nine, much planning at the community level goes into the celebrations for the Nativity and New Year’s.
According to Caroline Jacobs, the people of Surama plan as a community which families would host the community for the Christmas, the Old Year’s and the New Year’s.
“For Old Year’s/New Year’s, we all chip in with our contributions so all the preparations are not left to one person. People put on their best clothes. On Old Year’s Night we all go to the family or families hosting the event and eat up as a community. We play music and await the church service which starts from 11.30 pm. Most of the time now we keep the church service right at the host family. At mid-night everyone greets each other. Usually we do fireworks and everybody would shout out cheers of ‘Hip! Hip! Hip! Hooray! Happy New Year!’ to greet the New Year. The music comes on and everybody who wants to dance, would dance. People party until morning.”
For New Year’s day the village plans a village picnic near to the village pond or the community centre, where again those who are able to contribute, does so. “Everyone partakes. That is how we do it here in Surama,” said Jacobs.
In Parabara, planning is also communal, with several days and weeks of hunting and fishing which is central to the feasting that takes place for the Christmas and the New Year. When the hunters and fishers return they are welcomed with singing and dancing. The preparations include the weaving of new household items like sifters, matapees and fans. Apart from boiling the meat and fish in a gravy or sauce with rice, farine and cassava bread, roasting meat over an open fire is a treat.
After the Christmas and Boxing days feasting, the hunters and fishermen go out once again to gather meat for the Old Year’s/New Year’s Day dinner, breakfast and other meals until the meat runs out. A number of traditional sporting events and games, including archery and canoeing are also a part of the celebrations. This year was no exception says Parabara’s toshao, Clarence Rudolph.
