No St. John´s celebration in 2020 for Catholics in the interior of Guyana

In the interior of Guyana, the annual celebration of the feast of the birth of St John the Baptist on June 24th usually begins with a solemn Mass, followed by a public activity of lighting a huge bonfire and people gathered around to walk on the remaining hot coals. The public event normally is accompanied with mostly Brazilian forró music and dance, something that is practiced especially in the Rupununi; a celebration that takes a similar form in neighbouring Brazil. However, this year 2020, the solemn feast was observed at home and families prayed for those victims of the Coronavirus, especially at Santa Rosa, Moruca which is the hardest hit Catholic indigenous area presently.

In Guyana, the St. John the Baptist celebration began to be observed at Santa Rosa to celebrate the arrival of the first priest to the people there after they requested for a sacerdote to be their pastor. According to Church documents, Fr. Hynes arrived at Santa Rosa on June 24th 1830 - the feast of St. John, where he baptised 75 children and married two couples.

Upon the priest´s arrival at Santa Rosa, the early Morucans welcomed him with the local custom of firing bamboo cannons and a bonfire. A symbolic gesture of God´s mission to John as in the story of John the Baptist where God sent him for that special mission to preach about repentance and to baptize people, tell them about the Kingdom of God and prepare them for the Messiah’s coming.

Given this history, St. John´s celebration was subsequently brought to the Rupununi by the Arawaks of Santa Rosa; the oldest Catholic mission in the interior of Guyana. Later, most Catholics and others embraced the practice in celebrating the feast in the Rupununi. In neighbouring Brazil it is also celebrated and Catholics of the Rupununi working over there are exposed to the solemn religious feast, so both sides most Rupununians celebrate it depending on which side they are for June 24th every year.

Speaking with residents of the Rupununi and Santa Rosa by Whatsapp recently, they said that this year there were no activities of making a bonfire and walking on the hot coals in the villages because of the mandatory ban on social gathering and on public events to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus in indigenous communities. A celebration that a lot of people missed.

May Saint John intercede and pray for the people of Santa Rosa who are suffering from the Coronavirus out-break there these days. St. John Pray for Morucans!

Brief history of feast of the birth of St John the Baptist

The nativity of John the Baptist on the June 24th is a high-ranking liturgical feast, kept in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and Lutheran churches. The sole biblical account of the birth of John the Baptist comes from the Gospel of Luke.

Christians have long interpreted the life of John the Baptist as a preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, and the circumstances of his birth, as recorded in the New Testament, are miraculous. John's pivotal place in the gospel is seen in the emphasis Luke gives to the announcement of his birth and the event itself, both set in prominent parallel to the same occurrences in the life of Jesus.

Brief history of the bonfire for the St. John celebration

The celebration of mid-summer´s Eve was from ancient times linked to the summer solstice. Some people believed that mid-summer plants especially Calendula/ Marigold had miraculous healing powers and they therefore picked them on this night. Bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits which were believed to roam freely when the sun was turning southwards again. However, over time, this holiday has lost most of its sacral meaning and only its festive elements remain.

Additionally, although mid-summer is originally a pagan holiday, in Christianity it is associated with the nativity of John the Baptist, which is observed on the June 24th annually. It is six months before Christmas because Luke 1:36 implies that John the Baptist was born six months earlier that Jesus, although the Bible does not say at which time of the year this happened.

Perhaps it’s time for unconventional education to shine

Photo: M. Abraham

Education has come a long way in Guyana contributing to national development. However, there is still some division between those who have the opportunity to study and those less fortunate children who lack opportunities and support to pursue it for upward mobility. This system of education that produces some social inequality is promoted by conventional ideology for capital and market products. Guyanese Indigenous people and other poor rural population because of their geographic location, cultural and social differences have always been at a disadvantage in obtaining formal learning, despite governments’ efforts to deliver quality education to them.

In 2020 came COVID-19 and the Ministry of Education began closing schools to contain the spread of the virus. This activity interrupted the academic learning in the classrooms for all children in Guyana and these days all are at home.
For Indigenous children in the interior, a few lucky ones are receiving academic lessons work at home, while the rest are in the farms with their parents. The majority lack access to online learning provided by the Ministry of Education, although some try to listen to the radio if they have solar energy or batteries to power the device at home.

For parents, teachers, the Ministry of Education and modern society, it is crucial for children to receive academic education and perform well at the core subjects to obtain the benchmarks rated by the system; a pivotal achievement for the Ministry of Education to be on par with standard education of the world that capitalism promotes.

But let’s be real. The same education based on ‘meritocracy’ fails most of Indigenous and other poor children with its rigid and selective system centered on education of the head and intellect and limited space for critical analysis. Given this understanding, it is hoped that COVID-19 serves to revolutionize education. As the meritocracy system slows down during time of closure of schools, perhaps it’s time for unconventional education to shine.

Given that conventional education comes to “educate” indigenous people, it should also consider that they have a unique worldview of education.

With the closure of schools parents are teaching the children to plant and grow local food from the farms, apart from teaching them the local language and customs from the elders. Additionally our children are learning to live sustainably with the environment and the proper use of lands while learning the importance of the natural resources etc.

Furthermore, there is a lot of richness in popular knowledge to learn from in rural and indigenous communities in Guyana. Some examples are the local season for fishing and hunting. There are also concepts of mathematics and sciences these communities generate. The circular shapes of the cassava bread when baked can teach shapes and the carbohydrate and other nutritious values it contains. There are many more examples of popular education to teach the children. This shows that conventional education is not the only way of schooling a child. Unconventional learning is also valuable and it should not be perceived as a second-class education. Having this aspect of education is vital for coping with disappointments when children academic performance is low at school. So while schools are closed and meritocracy learning slows down during this pandemic, it is time for unconventional education to shine for those students not having access to academic lesson at homes, until schools reopen in September.

Yours truly

Medino Abraham

Celebrating Pentecost in the adversity of COVID-19

 By Marlon Innis SJ 

Last Sunday, May 31st, the Church celebrated Pentecost, Jesus sending down the Holy Spirit to his disciples empowering them to continue the mission. Armed with the Holy Spirit they were able to perform wonders, and be the prophetic voice to the people. The Holy Spirit empowered the disciples to proclaim with wisdom the coming of God’s kingdom among us on earth. This mission still continues today. Prayer, devotions, meditations among others are very important, but there is a need to do more. For example we can pray for a divine intervention, such as sending rain during a drought. If we fail to address destructive human practices towards the rainforests, then droughts are inevitable.

Similarly, the Church is the prophetic voice which must speak out in defence of the poor and vulnerable especially in face of adversities. For example, during the Forbes Burnham administration, Father Andrew Morrison, SJ now deceased, continuously used his prophetic voice to speak out and to challenge the ills which were destroying the fabric of Guyana's nationhood, and he was right to do this.

In recent times, there appears a reduced appetite for the prophetic voice to address core issues facing the people. Appeasement and remaining silent in order to protect a vested interest should not be entertained. Although Archbishop Oscar Romero who was an academic and a conservative chose to use his prophetic voice in defense of the poor and vulnerable. I think that the need for prophetic voice is worldwide but more so in Guyana especially during our adversities.

While in Guyana, the focus is on finding and maintaining ways of combating the rise and spread of COVID-19 which will eventually pass, there also exist opportunities for initiatives which will not only address the spiritual needs of the people.

Fifty-four years after independence we are still faced with issues, such as racial biases, voting according to race and exclusive governance, lack of care and concern for others, and perhaps the absence of a link that connects the spiritual/religious care with the fundamental issues of the day among many more. For instance, how is it that Catholics can attend Sunday Masses and other religious events where we profess brother and sisterhood, but during election season hatred, malice, anger, intolerance, stereotyping and negative judgments are displayed against each other. How can we link the Gospel message to people’s life situations so that efforts can be made to process our thought patterns? Is there a role the Church can play in nation building?

The feast of Pentecost provides the answer for us, which is to fiercely embrace the value of the Gospel by rejecting the evil which our two political dinosaurs, who have and will continue to feed their supporters, inclusive of members of the faithful, a racial diet which seeks to divide and sow the seeds of mistrust. Efforts must be made to teach our faithful that collectively all can rise up in faith, inspired and motivated by the Holy Spirit and the various initiatives which are in place to empower the people, to reject the source of evil and destruction in our country.

In the United States, there is protest in the midst of COVID-19 over the murder of African Americans. This violence is driven by the same force and motivation which is also at work in Guyana, a belief that one group of people is privileged over the other. Hence this cycle is repeated regularly. Almost every nation and its people bear scars that have deep-seated feelings of anger and resentment. This has plainly been displayed in the United States; likewise Guyanese bear the scars of post-colonization repression under varying leaderships which have governed Guyana. We carry many wounds from the past and unless these fundamental issues are addressed, our socio-economic, political, and spiritual development will remain an elusive dream.

The temptation is to appease and to keep silent so my vested interest is preserved. This pattern of self-interest can be seen in Guyana at present. Perhaps the words of Martin Niemoller, who was a well-known Lutheran pastor, might offer them a second thought. "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a socialist, then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist, then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me."