A ‘Guyanese Christmas’ in New York

Christmas is the most celebrated of all festivals among Guyanese. And in New York, as in Guyana, it is a traditional Christmas doing pretty much the same things people do ‘back home’ during the season.
Guyanese New Yorkers have been busy making elaborate preparations for the end-of-year joyous season — shopping for gifts, clothing, food items, and materials for cake, organizing parties, etc that go with the season. The celebrations begin this Friday among family members while offices and businesses have been marking the end-of-the year-with holiday parties over the last two weeks. Schools go on break from this Friday through Jan 1. It is back to work and school on January 2 for many.

One can feel the Christmas spirit in the Guyanese communities in much the same way as in Guyana. Homes well lit on the outside and decorated with Christmas paraphernalia. The commercial districts on Liberty, Flatbush, Jamaica, Cypress, and Westchester Avenues have been teeming with shoppers. Guyanese restaurants are packed. Multi-colored lights and other paraphernalia brighten up neighborhoods and stores. These brightly colored lights, trimmings and other decorations everywhere are comparable of any neighborhood in the US.
As in Guyana, the Christmas season transcends religions. Virtually everyone, regardless of faith, partakes in the Christmas spirit. And outside of many homes, lit trees are next to fluttering jhandis or the quarter moon crescent. Everyone prepares that special meal and beverages that go with the season and join in the “Christmas spirit”. And almost everyone makes the annual trek to see the huge Christmas tree glittering with some 26,000 bulbs at Rockefeller Center.
Going around the neighborhoods, one can see an abundance of flickering multi-colored lights with a variety of designs which line the windows and entrance to the home and even on trees outside on the lawn; Traditional music (local and Bollywood songs, calypso, parang, Indian golden oldies from yesteryear) are blasted throughout Guyanese or Trini neighborhoods.
Virtually all Guyanese businesses, especially the real estate and law offices, hold Christmas parties. But this year, unlike in the past when offices had huge bashes at five star hotels, because of a tight economy, offices hosted small parties at local halls or at their offices. At businesses where large number of Guyanese are employed, mangers hosted parties for their staff with traditional Guyanese dishes served. Schools in Guyanese communities also held parties for lower level kids. The Indo-Caribbean community leaders hosted a luncheon for Seniors last Sunday.
On Liberty Ave and some other Avenues, bars and night clubs are doing good business though the owners complain business has not been good as previous years amidst a tight economy where money is not circulating among the middle class.
The media has been running Christmas programs — even Indian TV and radio programs air scenes of Christmas from Bollywood movies and radio play Bollywood Christmas songs.
Many Guyanese yearn for a Christmas like the one back “home” with old friends and family members left behind. But circumstances keep them in the US. Yet, for some, the yearly pilgrimage to Guyana started two weeks ago with flights filled up throughout the Christmas season.
And as in Guyana, it is a tradition for people in New York to bake and make traditional drinks and host family members for lunch or dinner over the extended weekend.