Christmas & New Years in Suriname

Now that I have experienced the holidays in a warm climate I can tell you this. I prefer Christmas to have snow and will gladly spend New Years in the warm sun anytime.

As for spending the holidays in Suriname here goes…

Christmas Mass in Suriname
It never really felt like Christmas for me here in Suriname until I went to Christmas Eve mass. I wasn’t really surprised when things got off to a late start, but when I saw the person we were waiting for I couldn’t help but laugh. The front row was reserved for none other than the President and First Lady of Suriname. And I was sitting maybe 10 feet away in the pew behind. I can’t get within 100 feet of my own Prime Minister but in Suriname I can go to mass with the President! The mass itself was pretty much par for the course for any Catholic mass. What was different is there seems to be some universal agreement that people wear white and red to Christmas mass. It’s interesting how in Suriname people have colour schemes for their celebrations. I’ve been to a wedding where everyone was to wear white or green. I was invited to a birthday party where everyone was to wear red and another where everyone was to wear blue. And now I go to Christmas mass and I see the colour scheme is red and white. I wonder how this tradition started? Oh, I forgot to mention, most impressive was the beautiful music at mass. The choir could SING. And even more impressive, so could the priest. The guy sounded like one of the three tenors…seriously. Oh and the choir was accompanied by drums and maracas. O Come all Ye Faithful accompanied by drums…just lovely. And the priest with the terrific voice loved to sing…so much so that he absolutely BLEW me away when he sang the Gospel. Yes, you read that right. He SANG the gospel. And it sounded amazing.

Santa Sightings
In terms of all the stuff you expect to come along with Christmas in North America, well, let’s see…Christmas lights…yup, got those here. Music...yup, been playing holiday music and playing Christmas videos on TV since mid-November. Christmas trees…yup, though not everyone has them there are quite a few around in restaurants, in stores and in the malls. Santa…yup, seen him too.

Christmas lights on buildings along the waterfront.


First Christmas and Second Christmas
For the most part people don’t exchange gifts here. At least not like we do in North America. Here, the holidays for most people are focused on spending time with family. It’s really central to the celebrations. I spent Christmas day with my adopted Javanese family out in Commewijne sitting and eating and visiting with people….and watching the kids blow off fire crackers (more on the freaking fire crackers later!). Here instead of Christmas Day and Boxing Day, they have first day of Christmas and second day of Christmas. So on day one I was eating Javanese food and on day two I stayed home and I ate local dishes (that I helped make) like pom and pastille. Pom is sort of like a mushy sweet potatoe pie with bits of veggies and chicken in it. It’s very sweet, baked in the oven and tastes best eaten with rice. Pastille is sort of like chicken pot pie but less saucy. It’s a dish with pastry crust on the top and bottom with chicken, carrots and peas in the middle. For dessert there was pineapple cake and rum cake (heavy on the rum!). Delicious. So like Christmas in Canada, the eating at the holidays is all good.

Peggy and her husband - I went to Peggy's family's house for Christmas in Commewijne.


The kids blowing off fire crackers in the yard.



New Years Eve
New Years here is really a multi-day celebration. The street parties began on Thursday and continued until Monday night. On New Years Eve though something happened I’ve never seen before. You go out and party until 10 pm at which point, everything and I mean everything closes down and everyone goes home to celebrate the end of the old year and the start of the new year with friends and family. Like I said, everything is really family focused here. Imagine you’re on the street with thousands of people. At 10 pm the music shuts down, people start pouring out of bars and restaurants and start walking home. At home they have something to eat (of course!) and wait for midnight. All the while the skies are lit up with fireworks and firecrackers as every household sets off their own. Then, around 1 am everything opens up again and people start heading back to the street parties and bars to dance the night away. Unreal. I didn’t believe it when people told me that’s what happens here, but then I saw it for myself. At midnight Mvr. Kamperveen and I walked out to the street and wished all of the neighbours a Happy New Year. It was really, really nice. After four days of street parties I decided to pass on returning to the bar and instead wandered down to another neighbours house to celebrate the New Year with her and her daughters and a few other people. We set up chairs in the driveway and watched the kids in the neighbourhood set off fire crackers and enjoyed some bevies. All in all, a really nice New Years experience….or at least it was, because in my mind that meant the end of the firecrackers…..unfortunately I was wrong.......

Jetty, Me and Mvr. Kamperveen enjoy some drinks on the patio on New Years Eve (or as it's called in Suriname, end of old year).


The crowds partying in the streets...before heading home to celebrate with family.


At Jetty's house having bevvies and watching the fireworks with Heraya (Jetty's daughter) and Gio.


Fire Cracker Hell
One day just short of a week before Christmas I was coming out of an office and I hear all this banging. I thought it was a marching band or something but when I walked out I saw red fire cracker paper all over the sidewalk across the street. It was a Thursday, two in the afternoon. So apparently someone had nothing better to do than set off a bunch of fire crackers. I thought it was odd, but I had no idea that it was only just the beginning of things to come. I’d heard that they brought in a dozen or so shipping containers of fire crackers for the holidays in Suriname in the past but I had no concept just how many fire crackers that was and I foolishly thought it was all for New Years Eve. I was wrong….SO WRONG!!! For the last 12 days or so fire crackers have been going off like bombs at random times all day every day. It’s 9 am lets set off some crackers. It’s 2 am on a Tuesday, you know what we should do, set off some fire crackers. I seriously feel like I’ve been living in a war zone. I have a whole new level of sympathy for people caught in war zones. I can’t even imagine (or maybe I can!). I all the banging makes me jump but at least I know it’s not bullets. That said, if you want to get away with shooting someone without raising suspicion, I have to say, Christmas time in Suriname no one will blink an eye if they hear a noise that sounds like a gun so go for it.

Aside from the noise, there are the hazards that come with this much fire cracker activity. For one I’ve been told by Mvr. Kamperveen to keep all the shutters closed on the house as stray fire crackers flying in can be a hazard. Stray fire crackers? I didn’t understand until I saw kids randomly tossing them into the streets. Cars, homes, people, no one is safe. As is evident from the fireworks safety commercial they have been running on TV. It shows actual photos of people missing fingers, with massive burns and one guy missing half his face…I remind you these are ACTUAL photos….so gross!

The constant fire cracker activity was building up to a few major fire cracker events. The first was on Friday afternoon when the offices around the city held staff parties and set off fire crackers.

Staff at Mamio Namen Project get ready to set off some fire crackers at the staff holiday party.


Then Saturday all of the retail businesses in Paramaribo set off fire crackers in one massive display up and down the streets in the center of the city. I can’t even begin to describe it. Thousands of people filling the streets in anticipation of the big event. Then around noon, the shop keepers started rolling out massive boxes of fire crackers and lining the streets with them….see for yourself…

People start lining the main street in Paramaribo in anticipation of the big event.


And here come the fireworks.




The firecrackers went on for a few hours. It’s so loud and smoky....note Corina demos how we watched the massive display.


In the end, the streets are covered in red fire cracker carnage.


On New Years Eve, the fire crackers continued throughout the day and got heavier and heavier as the day went on. Up to this point there had been very few fireworks, but on Sunday night, all bets were off and the skies throughout the city lit up for hours as people set off fire crackers and fireworks. I mean it, it went on for HOURS and HOURS. This was no 20 minute fireworks display at midnight. This was all day, all night, every household in Paramaribo setting off fireworks and fire crackers. Before long the streets were covered in a haze and all you can do is stand in the street and stare up at the sky in utter amazement. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life and while I am DAMN tired of the fire crackers, I have to say I’m really glad to have seen New Years Eve in Suriname. Standing there in absolute awe Mvr. Kamperveen explained to me that people here believe in ending the year with a bang. If it was a bad year then it’s an opportunity to give it a big finish and then start fresh for 2007. If it’s a good year then it’s an opportunity to celebrate it. And that they do. End big with lots of celebration.

The massive fireworks as seen on my street.



The fireworks shots were taken by Berwyn (my fellow Crossroader)...note the smoke haze from the fireworks. (He's promised me more photos so I'll post them up when I can).