Festivals
Mashramani and national cohesion
Leon Walcott traces the origins of Guyana's Mashramani celebrations and examines its significance as an instrument of national unity
Stabroek News
March 20, 2007
Guyana's Mashramani is a commemorative event to mark the country's attainment of republican staus on February 23, 1970. The annual festivities have their origin in a cabinet decision taken in 1970.
Mashramani is Guyana's single largest indigenous festival. Among both home-based and migrant Guyanese - who return home each year to participate in the festivities - it is regarded as the local equivalent of Trinidad and Tobago's internationally renowned Carnival. The content of Mashra-mani, over the years, has been diverse, reflecting the ethnic and cultural mix of the country and the event generally attracts countrywide participation, including regional MASH programmes and special events for schoolchildren.
A popular feature of Guyana's Mashra-mani celebrations is its calypso competition. Like elsewhere in the region "kaiso" in Guyana has become a powerful medium of social commentary and the lyrics of the entries in the annual competition reflect the competitors' particular interpretations of issues in the country's socio-political condition.
The Government of Guyana's 2004 report to the International Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Racial Discrimination" sought to capture the essence of the Mashramani celebrations noting that each year, the event is "themed within the context of national unity including that of ethnicity." The themes of the celebrations over the years have - more or less - tended to stay within the confines of what, for Guyana, is the critical question of national unity.
During the earlier years of the event particular emphasis was placed on the use of Mashramani as a mechanism for fostering national pride and enhancing national participation. Official emphasis on Mashramani was reflected in the requirement that state agencies, including government ministries and public corporations, make allowances for the event in their annual budgets. Government agencies were also required to take part in the float parade through the streets of the capital. The costumes and general presentations of the respective agencies were expected to reflect the particular pursuits of the entity.
During those years costumes and floats placed much emphasis on reflecting thre various areas of local economic activity. The appearance of a National Mash Committee served to underscore the importance attached to the event by the government of the day.
If the national significance of the Mashramani event has remained undiminished over the years, the festival itself has evolved to provide a greater focus on entertainment in which growing numbers of young people of all racial groups participate. Additionally, we have witnessed the return home by increasing number of Guyanese seeking to identify with their country. This phenomenon is not dissimilar to to the practice among migrant Trinidadians and Barba-dians of returning home for the Carnival and Cropover celebrations, respectively.
While it has been suggested that Mashramani may have lost some of its original focus the truth is that it has evolved with the times. The celebrations, while retaining the traditional float and costume orientation, have also embraced some of the more contemporary entertainment trends. These days, the event has become an occasion for street parties, night clubbing, fashion shows and beach parties. The contention that these events take away from the significance of the occasion overlooks the fact that throughout the world a number of traditional festivals have evolved to meet "consumer" demand and to embrace contemporary trends.
Mashramani has not been without political controversy. In the wake of the accession to office by the People's Progressive Party/Civic in 1992 the question arose as to whether the country's independence anniversary - which had taken a "back seat" to the republic anniversary - was not more deserving of the jollification that had come to be associated with Mash. The opposition People's National Congress Reform dug its heels in on Mashramani, staging its own Flag Raising ceremony at the Square of the Revolution in 1993 and mobilizing its own contingent of revellers subsequent costume parades.
Mashramani, of course, was never intended to be about political differences but about building bridges. Last year, the then Presidential Adviser and Head of the Government Information Agency Robert Persaud acknowledged that Mash was indeed an important Guyanese cultural relic. In a "Viewpoint" aired to coincide with last year's celebrations he noted that apart from allowing the country to celebrate its "republican status" the event also allows for the showcasing of "our rich, beautiful talent and culture of our people." He declared that "the float parade and other activities are intended to show how united, committed and fun-loving people we are It is another opportunity to tell ourselves and the world that we are a nation not burdened by a past." Persaud's remarks amounted to a political acknowledgement of the government's recognition of Mashramani as a legitimate national festival.
Thirty-seven years ago, when Guyana attained republican status the idea of Mashramani was born within the fold of the Jaycess of Linden. The then Demerara Bauxite Company executive Jim Blackman was appointed to chair a committee that would include such notable creative and cultural Guyanese icons as Wordsworth Mc Andrew, A.J. Seymour and Adrian Thompson to help plan the event. Allan Fiedkou, a Guyanese of Amerindian ancestry is credited with recommending the adoption of the Amerindian (Arawak) word Mashramani as the official name of the festival while former government Minister and Ambassador David Singh is credited with recommending that the first Mashramani celebrations be staged in Linden. It is out of this more-or-less informal setting that Mashramani was born.
Responsibility for the planning and execution of the Mashramani celebrations currently lies with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and, over the years, the event has witnessed the increasing involvement of the local private sector. In context, the business community recognizes that the event, dominated as it is by youth participation, offers perhaps the single best opportunity for reaching consumers. Christmas apart, no national event generates more commercial activity and the pre-mash purchases of clothing and accessories is usually keenly anticipated by the commercial sector.
This year's Mash celebrations, coinciding as it did with the single biggest marketing confrontation in Guyana's history - between GT&T and DIGICEL, the country's two cellular service providers- added a more colourful dimension to the celebrations. The two companies literally took their battle for consumers to the streets, turning out massive contingents of costumed revellers and staging various marketing "gimmicks" along the way. It amounted to by far the most profound statement ever of the way in which changing social trends and consumer habits continue to bring about an evolution in Guyana's republic anniversary celebrations.