Colorful kites, signal return to normalcy at Guyana’s Easter celebration

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Guyanese turned out in droves to keep the kite flying tradition alive, hoisting the colorful toys over open spaces on the Seawall and the National Park, and even backyards, after a two-year lock down by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rita Payne-Silencieux, visiting from Florida, poses next to a kite designed with the flags of Guyana and Venezuela, flown on the Seawall. Photo by Tangerine Clarke

Easter celebrants, dressed to the colorful nines, were observed carrying kites of all sizes, along with food baskets, as music blared from speakers along the route to picnic areas. These scenes, reminiscent of years gone by before the pandemic, no doubt signaled a return to normalcy.

One of the biggest attractions, was an over-sized kite, carried by a Venezuelan couple. The design, merged the two cultures, incorporating the country’s flags. The foreigners expressed how great it was to be celebrating kite flying in Guyana, after a massive migration to the Republic, since hardship overtook the neighboring country.

Father and son get ready to hoist their colorful kite, at the Easter festivities after the coronavirus pandemic locked down the world for two years.

Painter, sculptor Dudley Charles, said Guyana is a fun-loving place for families and friends to celebrate Easter, and that special day of picnicking. While Rita Payne-Silencieux who travelled from Florida to holiday in her land of her birth, summed it up by saying: “My father used to take me on his bike to fly my kite on the Seawall. It is a beautiful custom, and significant to the resurrection of Christ the Savior.” She said it was wonderful being on the Seawall after 20 years, noting her Catholic religious up-bringing.

It is estimated that thousands of Guyanese celebrated the annual custom with a regatta in Bartica, a rodeo in the Rupununi, and horse racing on the coast of Berbice.