Santa is very prominent in all his winter splendor. Christmas decoration often include snowflakes, icicles and snowy scenes. While my family in California pointed out that their decorations also include those things which are not part of their reality, it seems a bit more odd that such things are part of the celebration in a tropical country that has never had a snowflake anywhere and ice is what you put in a drink to keep it cool. The fact is that most Christmasy stuff comes from the USA, so they import scenes of snow as easily as they import music and clothing. Commercialism is as much a part of Christmas here as it is anywhere else.
Prior to Christmas, sometime in December, each congregation has a 'concert.' This is a sort of 'talent night' when members and invited guests offer songs, skits, and recitations, both sacred and secular. There is also a Candlelight service where the Christmas story is acted out by the children and youth, we sing lots of Christmas carols, and a portion is in candlelight.
In North America the 'big' church service is usually Christmas Eve. People you haven't seen for a year suddenly appear once again in the pews. Christmas Day services, if they are held at all, are usually poorly attended. Here we have no Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day is only moderately attended, and is held at 6:00 AM ! The tradition goes all the way back to the days of slavery, when Christmas Day was the only universal 'day off' for the African slaves in the country. So Christmas was the time to visit family, much like what we do in North America on Thanksgiving -- food and family.
Food -- here even more than North America, food is the biggest part of celebration here. In a poor country, in a country of former slaves and indentured workers, food - especially food in abundance - becomes the centrepiece of any celebration. As with Christmas everywhere, there are special foods - Black Cake, Ginger Beer, and Pepperpot. Black Cake is a sort of fruit cake, but the fruit is pureed and there is lots more rum added [originally as a preservative]. Ginger beer is pretty much ginger ale, but with more ginger and fewer bubbles [despite the name, it is non-alcoholic]. Pepper pot is meat in a preservative sauce made from peppers and other plants. The meat is usually pork and beef, particularly 'cow foot.' In former times, pepperpot was keep year round as the only way to preserve meat without refrigeration, but now it is only made at Christmas. Other treats include nuts [especially walnuts], apples, and grapes - foods that are imported and thus, expensive. Similarly, in Canada, we treat ourselves to nuts and Mandarin Oranges [often called 'Christmas oranges']. Despite the year round availability of such treats now, they are more prominent at Christmas time. Since we have no family here, we were invited to share Christmas day with the Pastor that shares Lutheran Courts with us, and her family.
Guyanese have the two-day holiday typical of former British colonies [except the USA] - Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Though I have heard several different origins of the name Boxing Day, people here don't seem to worry about why it is called that; they are just glad for the holiday. While Christmas day is for family, Boxing day is for 'visiting' - visiting neighbours or friends or more extended family than were around on Christmas day. We were invited to share Boxing day with the Chairman of the parish and his family.
The end of the year celebration is full of fireworks and food [again]. Old Year's Night [not as we would call it, New Year's Eve] is the largest worship service of the year, attended by nearly the entire congregation, as well as members of the community that never attend any church and may not even be religious. It is considered the most sacred night of the year, and being in church at midnight is a good start to the coming year. People usually put on their 'Sunday best' when attending worship, but on Old Year's night, they go all out.The tradition for New Year's Day is again food - this time, a huge pot of 'cook-up' -- rice with whatever vegetables you want to put in it [and sometimes raisins]. Most of the vegetables in cook-up are local ones I had never seen before, except that they often put carrots in for colour. A full pot on New Year's Day presages abundant food in the New Year.
Epiphany is not a celebration that is traditional here. Vivian had a service on January 6, because one of the congregations in the parish had not had their Candlelight service till then. There seems to be universal interest in worshiping by candlelight, even if it is not on Christmas Eve.
So, there you have it. Add a funeral and a wedding, and that's what we did this holiday season. While North America has been in the grip of some fierce winter storms and otherwise cold weather, in Guyana this is the rainy season [one of two] when we have frequent and heavy rains. We were blessed this year in that most of the rain came when we were indoors, going to and from our services and visits in relative dryness.
Again, wishing you and yours the best of the New Year. You can find recipes for the foods mentioned on the internet, and even demonstrations on Youtube. May your pot always be full.
