Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 11, 2016 Countryman, Features / Columnists
By Dennis Nichols
The 2017 bud-jet seems to be struggling to find enough lift to take off from the clingy Guyanese political mud. With exactly two weeks to Christmas, the yuletide spirit also appears to be in similar mire. At least that’s the impression given
by those who tend to be easily overwhelmed by financial static and statistics that suggest economic stagnation. But not all! I know my people, and the majority of us will not let Mr. Jordan’s apparently joyless recipe spoil the Christmas goodies. VAT or no VAT, we’ll have our black cake, and eat it too.
Budgets are defined by economic prudence; the Christmas spirit isn’t. And somehow, as in past years, Guyanese will find the money, the Machiavellian hook-or-crook, and the irrepressible will to make something out of – well – almost nothing. Forget about the millionaires, billionaires, and budget cares for the moment. I’ve seen families in wringing poverty find a way to spruce up their surroundings, buy new clothes and toys for the kids, knock back pepper-pot, black cake, and ginger-beer on Christmas Day, deck themselves out for Old Year’s Night church, and still have something left to buy new sneakers for the school re-opening in January.
Now that’s a different kind of budgeting, and some of the ‘structural adjustments’ employed would no doubt leave the Finance Minister blushing. But that’s not the point. It is that most Guyanese, like their Caribbean counterparts, have etched into their psyches the notion, emotion and commitment to make this season; these few December weeks, count for more than the mere passing of time and the daily survival slog. Like someone wryly commented, “Mash is nice, Independence Celebration is good, but Christmas is Christmas; you know what I mean?” Sure do!
But what it is that makes this season so different from the rest of the year? The answer may sound rather unpalatable to non-believers. After all the bottom-line reason is the birth, over 2000 years ago, of the Christ-child, a baby delivered by a teenaged virgin whose betrothed, knowing rightly that he was not the father, wanted to quash the engagement, and was deterred from doing so only after submitting to the will of Jehovah God who claimed divine paternity and revealed that the infant would save mankind from sin. It’s a seeming implausible tale, but one that has endured and entered into the hearts, lives, and eternal destinies of billions of Christians over two millennia, and refused to die.
This miraculous story of supernatural intervention by God in the affairs of man is one which embraces themes of grace, humility, obedience, joy, peace, and love, all of which still resonate deeply within the hearts of believers today. But more than that, the story has become embellished (some say tainted) over the years with bits of pagan myth and folklore, frivolous and hedonistic trappings added to make it appealing to early non-Christians. One end result is that Christmas is the most widely-celebrated holiday around the world; for some it comprises the entire season which includes New Year’s Eve, or Old Year’s Day as some still call it, and the first few days of January.
Because of this curious mixture of divine, Christian, and pagan elements, Christmas seems to have something for almost everyone, and despite occasional efforts to downplay its commercial extravagance, it is evidently going to be celebrated with customary zeal for a very long time. Also, despite the fact that Guyana is a country of verdant green, we will continue to be swamped with winter-white images of snow, sleighs, and Santa Claus, because we’ve accepted them as part of the yuletide package. (A closer look will reveal just how incongruously these images relate to the tropics) But who’s looking?
Sometimes I wonder if that magical thing called the Christmas spirit hasn’t somewhere along the line become enmeshed with our human DNA and triggered by a kind of subliminal seasonal cue. So that in a country like ours when it starts to get dark a little earlier than usual, when the first rains come erratically in late November, when the 12-month calendar starts to wind down, and when the first frosts appear in northern climes, we begin to experience, and initiate, a subtle change in attitude and expectation especially in our relationships with family and friends.
The spirit isn’t all airy-fairy and intangible though. For many Guyanese getting into it means keeping it real with practical considerations and putting that extra, deliberate effort to make Christmas as enjoyable, love-filled, and yes, spiritual as possible. We are all familiar with these end-of-year endeavours. Some people work additional hours to ‘catch their hand’, unearth hidden savings or vie for that strategic box hand, and of course the ‘foreign’ barrels roll in along with some supplementary US dollars or other tradable currency.
So will the 2017 budget buzz put a damper on Christmas 2016?
Many people are complaining that it will, and I’m certain that those business men and women who are complaining the most will find ways to ease any unwanted financial burden off their shoulders and onto those of the beleaguered consumers. The consumers will absorb the blows (How many options do they have?) and as I alluded to earlier, do what they have to do to not only survive but surmount these obstacles.
Remember too that the Christmas spirit is in some ways simply an extension of the regular year-round spirit of human conviviality that may be just less visible at other times of the year. The truth is that in spite of the daily horrors of crime, immorality, and high-level corruption, many, many Guyanese are basically good, honest, caring people. Christmas traditions like home-decorating and gift-giving simply push those traits into overdrive.
And don’t think it’s only mindful, responsible adults who make the effort to be kinder and nicer in December. This little episode happened a week ago.
I was travelling with my son from Parika to Supenaam on the ‘Chinese’ ferry. As the boat moored alongside the Supenaam stelling I reached into my pocket for our ticket. It wasn’t there. I searched every pocket, then the foredeck, but no ticket. Feeling rather silly I was wondering how I would explain my predicament to the ticket collector when three high-spirited teenagers, two girls and a boy, approached me. One of the girls asked me if I was looking for a two-person ticket. I said ‘Yes’. She extended her hand with a smile.
I took the ticket from her, thanked them enthusiastically, and turned to exit the vessel when she added, “This too.” She held out two thousand-dollar notes saying that she found them with the ticket. I was speechless. That was the money I would use to pay our fare for the remainder of the journey. I gratefully took the notes, thanked them with even more profusion, and left. They were all smiling broadly.
As I walked away I thought how easy it would have been for those ‘giddy’ young people to play the finders-keepers game, and how providential that they should spot bewildered me even as dozens of people were jostling to leave the boat. The Christmas spirit or just basic Guyanese goodness?
Well, the budget debate is one. It’s a hot one, as we Guyanese love a good argument. I cannot gauge what the outcome will be. I do know that from an economic standpoint, we need to think and act very cautiously over the next few weeks and into the new year. In the meantime though, remember that while we can and should budget wisely for family and nation, you just cannot budget the Christmas spirit in the same way.
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