The annual Easter Monday extravaganza ignitedlate yesterday when many Guyanese came out later in the day to engage in this year's festivities.

Continuing the trend which began last year in a tense, post-elections atmosphere, many citizens chose to merely ignore the daytime activities in favour of evening and night-time escapades. The usually cramped sea-walls, the National park and even the University of Guyana Campus were all devoid of the typical fanfare that is the Easter experience during the earlier part of yesterday. As the day progressed however, so did the attendance of many who were eager partake in the day's celebrations. The sea-walls and the National Park each enjoyed plausible numbers in the latter part of the day, however they shuddered in comparison to the attendance of previous years.

Although Easter is most popular for its association with the resurrection and the symbol of the kite, many people continued to departed from the norm engaging in recreational activities which ranged from picnicking and cricket to dancing or simply jumping on trampolines. And although there was a departure from convention, the family-oriented theme of the activities were enduring.

And while many shied away from it, the kite was not entirely dead in the coffin yesterday. There were some creative attractions among the field of conventional designs, including the plane-kite, the highly original bottle-kite and even a rainbow-kite. Despite these minor successes however, most people seemed to gravitate to familiar favourites such as the bird and box kites.

Meanwhile, the usual Kite competitions fell victim to a lack of quality and a substantial number of entries. Those of those desiring to enter this year's competitions were unaware of the change in venue from the Seawall bandstand to the Everest Cricket Club, which resulted in some people arriving at the bandstand, unaware of the change. And while the hard work of most of the entrants were to be appreciated and commended, the general lack of originality and creativity were a reflection of the lackluster atmosphere at this festivities.

The erosion of the number of young people, who usually bring unique and often fresh perspectives to the Easter celebrations, reflected the general erosion of Easter celebrations which have now simply been resigned to late night fetes.

A notable addition at yesterday's celebrations were the heightened presence of the police, who were in numbers at every conceivable venue for activities. Some directed traffic, while others simply maintained the peace. One officer even helped a lost child to find her mother among the denizens which had built-up in the National Park.