Tomorrow is a landmark day in the Christian calendar, being the day Christians believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead – his death occurring three days prior on Good Friday – and ascended to heaven. With Guyana being one of the few countries having substantial blocs of adherents of all the three top major religions in the world – Christianity, Islam and Hinduism – it is noteworthy how Easter has become a national festival.
Christianity, of course, was the religion of the Europeans that colonised Guyana and they imposed that religion on the Indigenous Peoples who were relegated to the hinterland, and also on the slaves and indentured servants they imported to work on the mainly sugar plantations. It is sometimes forgotten that Guyana was once also a major producer and exporter of cotton and coffee. Since the colonisers – the Dutch and the British – were generally Protestants, this was the variant of Christianity promulgated by the official churches, which worked hand in glove with the governments. After slavery, for instance, the Christian churches were funded to “educate” the freed-slaves, the Indigenous Peoples and later the other labour immigrants.
The Portuguese brought their Roman Catholic brand of Christianity when they arrived in 1835 and being strong in their orientation, established several Cathedrals, churches and schools that operated on their religious premises. During slavery, even the languages of the African slaves were forbidden, much less their indigenous spiritual practices. These were derided as “pagan” and “animistic” and proffered as proof of Africans being on the lowest rung of humanity on the “chain of being” postulated by Christian theologians of that era.
Ironically, this position was an advance on the views of the Spanish Christian monk, Bartholomew de Las Casas, who insisted Africans had no soul so enslaving them was actually beneficial since they would be exposed to the beneficent influences of the “soul-full” Christians who were their masters. The same logic was used in Africa and today, with African contributing 40 per cent of the Christian flock, it is also their fastest growing demographic. In his book Things fall apart, African author Chinua Achebe describes this spread of Christianity and the displacement of indigenous spiritual practices in Iboland of Nigeria. It is poignant that in the acclaimed Afro-futuristic movie, “Black Panther”, which envisions an Africa not colonised by Europe, each of the five tribes practice their own spiritual practices, including communing with ancestors, without any conflict.
In Guyana, however, like the Indigenous Peoples, peoples of African descent are mostly Christians. However, a growing number are turning to Islam – which some of their ancestors practiced in Africa, eg, the Fulani – which was extirpated during slavery. This reflects global trends that will see Islam displace Christianity as the largest religion in the world by 2060. The Indians immigrants were Hindus (80 per cent) or Muslims (20 per cent). Christian indentured servants were at best, a handful. However, with the pressures of the dominant Christian-run schools and the premise of Guyana being a “Christian nation” during the colonial era, Hindus especially, were converted in massive numbers to Christianity. It is a tribute to the tenacity of the Muslims to their faith than their numbers have actually grown absolutely and proportionately. The last group of immigrants, the Chinese, all converted to Christianity.
As a consequence of the above described history, Christianity in Guyana is today the major (55 per cent) religion in the country, if one were to conflate all their various “denominations”. But even for the substantial other religions, Easter is significant for several “secular” practices that have come to be associated with the event. On Good Friday, it is almost universally accepted there would be a catastrophe if one were to go to work. Kite flying has become quintessentially Guyanese and is practiced by Guyanese of all faiths at this time of the year, even though it is thought to be symbolic of Jesus’ ascension. There are other events such as the “Bartica Regatta” and the annual Easter Hat Show at this time.
Happy Easter.
