By Mohanlall Seulall
Easter is a time for reflection as well as a time for us to celebrate the sacrifices of Jesus Christ. It is a time where many families take advantage of the fact that school and pack their bags and head out on vacation. One of the most popular vacation spots during this period is the Essequibo Coast because of its wide open spaces and the quietness that follows.
The parents in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) take advantage of holiday time to spend quality time with their children, friends and relatives who would visit the Region. I
Essequibo Coast, a Region with big open spaces, comes to life on Easter Monday with families and friends enjoying the afternoon breeze, joining their kids in kite flying. But there are also several activities that would lead up to the actual Easter Monday shin-ding.
On Good Friday, there is a different level of peacefulness that washes over the Region and for the better part of the day, Christians would spend that time in meditation and prayers. The Cross Buns Sellers are usually the loudest on Good Friday morning filling the air with their uniquely composed songs:
Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot Cross Buns
If you have no daughters
Give them to your Sons
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot Cross Buns
If your sons don’t like them
They’re the only ones
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot Cross Buns
Get them while they’re hot
And eat them by the ton
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot Cross Buns.
On Easter Sunday some of the children will go to the open spaces to fly their kites but many will prefer to go to the lakes and other places to have picnics with families and Friends.
On Easter Monday the fun starts in Charity where residents visit the market to do their final shopping and by midday, the crowd will be moving to the beaches along the coastline to fly their kites with their children, relatives and friends.
Easter of today is not as enjoyable and exciting as the old days and the skills and techniques of kite making are gone with time. The sound of the many locally made kites that once used to dance, sing and filled the skyline with its many bright and beautiful colours, styles and shapes are now being replaced by the many foreign imported plastic kites that are very silent, dumb, and there is nothing to pull your attention.
Tony Monroe, a local Kite maker for over 30 years and of Henrietta, Essequibo Coast said that the Easter of today is not like the Easter of long ago. He said that today children are not getting the real fun of kite flying due to the many imported kites adding that in the olden days Easter used to be more fun for the family with parents getting fully involved in kite making.
He said that Easter used to bring the family together when it came to kite making and design with the children choosing their ‘patchwork’ design, and type of kite they wanted. Some of the kites made then were Box, Bird, Man, Woman, Plane, Cross and many other designs to get the children excited.
The frame of the kites was made from pointers from your mother’s broom and pasted using the ever faithful gamma cherry. If you were adventurous then you would even pop one or two of those sticky cherries in your mouth.
Monroe said that as a little boy Easter was the dream of every child since they got the opportunity to be with the family and to participate in making the best kite to show off on Easter Sunday and Monday.
Easter Sunday the children will be up very early to get the opportunity to be the first person to get their kite in the air because it was believed then that the Lord Jesus Christ will raise and go up to heaven with the first Kite and the kids were excited to be that lucky person. 
He said that kite singing was a big thing then since people will arrange competitions to prove who has the loudest singing kite, best patchwork, neatest pasted kite and much more. “Scall Bread” was every child’s fear that was the term used when the kite fell into trenches and ponds, and the kite paper got wet and loses its colours, it becomes all white like bread.
Munroe said that he is still in the kite making business, but due to the heavy importation of foreign plastic kites into the Country, he is presently selling only about 140 kites ranging from $500 to $3000.
Munroe also noted that he can produce any kite to suit the customer’s request and said that he can design kites to represent the flags of all the countries in the world if requested.
So this Easter, pack your bags and head to Region Two and experience a truly peaceful holiday.
