Tag Archives: Guyana stories

The Jordanites – by Peter Halder

08/21/2013 – 4:50 am

Guyana Stories by Peter Halder

The Jordanites

by Peter Halder

 Colonial Era

Religion played a fundamental role in the British administration of its colony of British Guiana.

It was most probably the policy of the British that in a multiracial country with many races- African, East Indian, Chinese, Portuguese, the indigenous Amerindian, European and their inter-mixtures- and with different cultures and religious practices, the foundation, growth and spread of the Christian religion, could and would convert, indoctrinate, assimilate and unite the many races into a united nation. The colonialists went further. They recognized that the older generation was probably beyond conversion, indoctrination and assimilation, so their policy was to focus on the children, the new generation.

Churches dotted the landscape of Georgetown and environs, as well as the countryside.    Read More »

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The Gravediggers – by Peter Halder

08/13/2013 – 4:45 am

Guyana Stories by Peter Halder.

The Gravediggers

by Peter Halder

Two gravediggers laboured at a plot on the eastern side of the white brick road in the Le Repentir Cemetery near the huge white gate at Sussex Street. They finished digging the hole for a grave at 5.45 just before the cemetery gates closed at 6.00 p.m. The mud they dug up was piled on two sides of the hole. Jumbie Jerrold told his friend Clement Graves that he was so tired, he will place four thick concrete paper containers at the bottom of the hole and take a short nap there before going home. He was soon fast asleep.    Read More »

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Songs and Dances of the 40s and Early 50s – Peter Halder

07/28/2013 – 5:07 pm

Songs and Dances of the 40s and Early 50s

by Peter Halder

When Julius Caesar said the Ides of March are come, Artemidorus the soothsayer replied, yes Caesar but not gone. So the twenty-first century has come but my memories of songs and dances of the 40‘s and early 50′s of the twentieth century have not gone.

During the early to the mid 40′s, the only songs I was familiar with were Hymns sang in Church on Sunday nights and Good Fridays from a red cover Hymn Book. No one on Non Pareil Street, Albouystown had a radio much less, a pick-up or a radiogram. We were fortunate however because after 1945, our home had a Victrola Gramophone and three 33 size records. Two, both sides, could only be played during the Christmas Season because they were Carols : Oh Come All Ye Faithful; Silent Night Holy Night; Once In Royal David’s City and Hark The Herald Angels Sing. The other contained Indian songs on both sides. One I remember was Sohani Raat. The singer was Lata Mungeshkar I think.    Read More »

This is just one of many  historical articles on Guyana written by Peter Halder that will be published on Guyanese Online.  You can read them all at Peter Halder’s website:  http://peterhalder.wordpress.com/
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Prince Randian of Guyana – by Peter Halder

07/28/2013 – 4:59 pm

Prince Randian of Guyana

by Peter Halder

Guyanese men and women have distinguished themselves in many fields of human endeavour, at home and overseas. The performing arts is no exception. Guyanese have been in films, on TV shows and on the stage. One has even been a feature attraction in the Barnum and Bailey Circus in the United States. And the amazing Guyanese had no arms or legs. He was known as Prince Randian.

The young man, born to Hindu parents in 1871 with neither arms nor legs, was 18 years old at the time. He was discovered by P.T. Barnum who transported him from the “Demerara district” and exhibited him as a human “oddity” or “freak” – a practice common in those days. Exactly how Barnum learned about the usual young man is unknown but he did. He arranged, in 1889 to bring the young man to New York. And hundreds of thousands of spectators paid to see him.     Read More »

This is just one of many  historical articles on Guyana written by Peter Halder that will be published on Guyanese Online.  You can read them all at Peter Halder’s website:  http://peterhalder.wordpress.com/
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