The 'Main Big Lime' - A heavy dose of Us -- says Minister Xavier by Donald Sinclair Guyana Chronicle November 24, 1999 THE Tourism extravaganza known as the `Main Big Lime' is a heavy dose of us. Set within the framework of tourism and featuring as part of the programme of activities for Tourism Awareness Month, the `Main Big Lime' knits together a number of threads and strands of our social, cultural and commercial life and spreads the fabric along one of the city's main courses - Main Street. The words Big Lime therefore become a deceptively simple name tag for that complex brew of culture, commerce and entertainment. It is a line that instructs, explores, entertains and celebrates. At the level of the street the event stretches between the Bank of Guyana and Le Meridien Pegasus, creating, at a deeper level, a symbolic linkage between commerce and tourism. Tourism in one sense can be regarded as the showcasing and celebration of the very body and soul of a country. When a country consciously chooses to highlight, promote and market its natural beauty, historical, cultural and industrial attractions; when a country's traditions in music, dance, worship, craft and cuisine become sustainable attractions for domestic and foreign visitors, then that country is, through tourism, celebrating what makes it and defines it as a country. Regionally, a number of festivals and cultural observances fulfil this function of celebration. These include Town Days, Village Days, Carnivals, Masquerades, Jazz festivals, Creole festivals and Religious festivals. On those occasions of heightened self-consciousness creative juices flow as artists, musicians, costume designers, weavers and sculptors look inward and show us what they see. Nostalgia runs deep as lost traditions and old, familiar ways are recalled in an attempt to bridge the past and the present. Such moments can be unsettling indeed, but for societies like ours that are exploring the relationship between yesterday and tomorrow, it is a necessary exercise. The `Main Big Lime' is therefore the most recent addition to the nation's and region's catalogue of cultural expeditions in a tourism mould. The elements include gospelfest, chutney, masquerade, shanto, craft and painting, folk cuisine and dragoon dancing, Santa Claus, stilt dancing, barbecues and pastries, games and donkey cart rides, tea parties and tree-lightings. Of importance, too, are the replicas and emblems of some of our tourism resorts and recreational amenities. An interesting dimension of the `Main Big Lime' is the showcasing of the cultural forms from Brazil, Venezuela, Suriname and Colombia. Those countries are sending contingents that significantly widen the cultural focus and geography of the event, thereby helping to create a cultural aggregate that embraces the English, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese traditions of the Guianas. As a Tourism extravaganza the first priority and challenge for the future will be to market this festival vigorously overseas so as to increase the influx of foreign visitors. The duration of the festival will probably require extension leaving the `Main Big Lime' day as the climax to a number of smaller regional expressions. Attention could also possibly focus on a festival season that begins late in November, extends through Christmas and culminates in Mashramani of February. There is enough cultural resource in Guyana to support such a format that begins with the `Big Lime' and ends with the `Big Mash'. So, those trees that are illuminated in late November, would in fact signal the start of our own three-month season that fuses Tourism month, Christmas and Mashramani in one cultural symphony of the Guianas. A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples