ENTERTAINMENT
Mistress of Ceremonies Rose October at launch ceremony. Photo by Nelson A. King
Caribbean Life, JANUARY 10-16, 2020 37
By Nelson A. King
With the display of spectacular
costumes, the Brooklyn-based Guyana
Cultural Association of New
York, Inc. (GCANY) Saturday night
in Brooklyn launched the jubilee
celebration of Mashramani at St.
Gabriel’s Golden Hall on Hawthorne
Street.
Mashramani, often abbreviated to
“Mash,” is an annual festival that celebrates
Guyana becoming a Republic
in 1970.
The festival, usually held on Feb.
23 – Guyanese Republic Day –
includes a parade, music, games and
cooking, and is intended to commemorate
the “Birth of the Republic.”
In 2016, the Mashramani parade
was held on May 26, the 50th anniversary
of Guyana’s independence,
but the remainder of the celebration
was held on the traditional February
date.
But Dr. Vibert Cambridge, GCANY
president, who skyped in from Ohio,
at Saturday’s launch in Brooklyn,
said Mashramani actually dates back
to 50 years.
“This 50-year old annual event is
a national institution,” he said. “It
has been and will continue to be a
sensitive barometer on the state of
Guyanese society.
“Over its 50 years, Mashramani
has been the locus where the dialectics
of political ideology, state aesthetics
and recreation have played
out,” he added. “Its history is an
important strand in Guyana’s post-
Continued on Page 38
Singing “Jingle Bell Rock,” from left:
Naydine Bascombe, Lafl eur Gumbs
and Emily Sykes.
Photo by Nelson A. King
By Nelson A. King
The United Vincie Cultural Group
of Brooklyn (UVCGB) Saturday night
expressed its “deep love and appreciation”
to members and supporters at its
annual holiday party at Miracle Temple
Ministries in the Brownsville section of
Brooklyn.
“This is our time to come together
with members, spouses, volunteers
and close friends,” UVCGB president
Dr. Roxie Irish-Morris told Caribbean
Life afterwards. “It is our moment to
express our deep love and appreciation
for the support we receive throughout
the year.”
Dr. Irish-Morris, a youth minister
at the Miracle Temple Ministries, an
evangelical church, said that while 2019
was “very challenging” for UVCGB, “we
made it.”
“God came through for us in a
marked way,” said the former national
netball star in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“So, to God be the glory for the
great things He has done for us, in us
and through us.”
Dr. Irish-Morris said the group looks
forward to “this time of family, fellowship,
food and lots of fun.”
She commended the group’s public
relations officer, Judith “Baffy” Cuffy-
Murray, who served as Mistress of Ceremonies,
for doing “a wonderful job.”
“The laughter was real,” she said.
“The game, ‘Price is Right’, was so
much fun.”
Besides holding the audience in
stitches, Cuffy-Murray, one of the
group’s main actresses, paid tribute to
late Vincentian calypsonian Lord Summers
by singing his signature “Come
Out in Yo Numbers.”
Continued on Page 38
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Vincy culture
on display
GUYANA’S
SPLENDOR
Jubilee launch of Guyana’s Mashramani
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