Looking… at traditions

Even as some are still sulking that they didn’t get a cash grant before Christmas – it doesn’t seem to your Eyewitness that this has dampened the traditional last-minute Christmas shopping in Georgetown that literally brings the town to a stop!! Listening to the Opposition politicians carrying on, you’d think that Pressie violated the most sacrosanct and venerable Christmas tradition when he announced the cash grant won’t be coming till the New Year!!
And talking about traditions, while we all know about old Queen Victoria being there when slavery was abolished – we even named a village after her!! – Your Eyewitness thinks she ain’t given enough credit for so many of our Christmas traditions that make the occasion so special for us!! We see her as a rotund, dour old maid, but it was her great, romantic love for her husband, Prince Albert, that sparked several customs we now see as integral to a “beautiful Christmas”.
Albert – who was German royalty – married his cousin Victoria when both of them were 20 years old, but he died young at the age of forty-two after producing nine children. He was so adored by Victoria that she wore black for the rest of her life – which was an astounding further forty years!! Albert brought the traditional German Christmas-decorated fir tree to Victoria’s English palace, and an 1848 engraving of Victoria, Albert and their children decorating one was circulated in Britain and in her far-flung empire. It became the quintessential symbol of Christmas!!
And our Christmas Black Cake also has its English connection. Its roots are in the British plum pudding – a dense, steamed holiday dessert made with dried fruits, spices, and alcohol. When the British dragged us into their Caribbean colonies, enslaved Africans and later groups adapted those recipes using local ingredients and island spirits. Especially our signature spirit – rum!! So as we nostalgically enjoy all “our” Christmas traditions, let us spare a thought to Victoria!!
A statue of her had been erected in front of our law courts back at the end of the 19th century, but at independence, Burnham – trying to burnish his “anti-imperial” credentials – banished her to the back of the Botanic Gardens!! Maybe it was because he’d already planned to subvert the British-bestowed Rule of Law in our affairs?? When Hoyte succeeded him, however, he enthusiastically gave permission for her to be brought and placed in front of City Hall!! Later the supposedly communist PPP returned her to her original spot. Unfortunately, during her enforced perambulations around GT, her nose was chipped off!!
Anyhow, the lesson is that whatever our means, we always had a jolly good time at Christmas. And this year, there are so many more reasons to keep up the (Victorian?) tradition!!

…at Caribbean “friends”
Now, it wasn’t just we in Guyana who imbibed British traditions – it was across the Empire on which the sun never set – and particularly in our West Indies!! In our case, since we all came out of slave plantations and were ruled and schooled by the same iron fist, we developed a strong bond of “West Indianness”. As independence loomed after WWII, the Brits lumped our colonies into a Federation of the West Indies.
Which eventually begat Caricom after the Federation collapsed. And we arrive at the present, where certain Caricom PMs are splitting all sorts of hairs when it comes to Venezuela – insisting we “keep the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace” – even in the face of Venezuelan threats to our sovereignty!!
There are said to be three types of friendship – usefulness and pleasure based on self-interest and “true friendship between good people similar in virtue”! Seems some are straying!
Re Caricom, your Eyewitness says, “Show me your company….”!!

…next door
The game of “chicken” between Trump’s US and Venezuela’s Mad Maduro continues. With his armada around Venezuela, Trump advised Mad Maduro to seek asylum. But he just affirmed he’s still willing to go to war!!