Guyanese Festival Foodways

Festival

⚠ GUYANA KEEPS FOUR RELIGIOUS CALENDARS AND EATS ON ALL OF THEM. CHRISTMAS — pepperpot on the morning, garlic pork, black cake, sorrel, ginger beer, and a national cleaning and curtain-changing. PHAGWAH (Holi) in March — Hindu, with mithai, sawine, gulab jamun and the coloured abeer. DIWALI in October or November — with parsad, mithai, sweet rice, and vegetarian food, and the diyas along the roads. EID — with sawine, kurma, and meat dishes. Plus EMANCIPATION DAY on 1 August, with cook-up, metemgee, foo-foo and African dress; MASHRAMANI on 23 February; and the Amerindian Heritage Month of September. ⚠ THE FOOD CROSSES THE LINES: non-Hindus eat at Phagwah, non-Christians eat pepperpot, and that is the documented pattern.