Guyana Culture & Language

English is Guyana's official language, the only one on the mainland, and Guyanese Creole, which its speakers call Creolese, is what most people speak; a large part of the population is bilingual in the Amerindian languages, and Guyanese Hindustani survives in words like aapan jaat. The people are Indo-Guyanese at about 40 per cent by the 2012 census, Afro-Guyanese, nine Amerindian nations -- Wai Wai, Macushi, Patamona, Lokono, Kalina, Wapishana, Pemon, Akawaio and Warao -- at about 10.5 per cent, and Chinese, Portuguese and mixed communities; the census counted 64 per cent Christian, 25 Hindu and 7 Muslim. The Amerindians gave the country the canoe, the cassava kitchen and pepperpot, the national dish, a slow stew of meat in cassareep and cinnamon served on special occasions; cook-up rice, one pot of rice, coconut milk, peas and meats, is the everyday one, and roti and curry came with the indenture ships.

The calendar belongs to everyone: Mashramani on 23 February for the republic of 1970, with parade, music, games and cooking, inspired by Amerindian festivals; Phagwah and Diwali from the Hindu villages; Easter and Christmas; Emancipation and Arrival Day. The music is calypso and its offshoots and mixes, as in the Eastern Caribbean; cricket is played at Providence Stadium, the largest in the country, built for the 2007 World Cup; and Guyana houses the Caribbean Community's secretariat.

The built culture is Georgetown's: British and Dutch colonial timber, St George's Cathedral of 1892 at 43.5 metres, Stabroek Market's iron hall and clock tower, the Whitby monument of 1988 in the National Park, and the giant Amazon water lily and the hoatzin on the coat of arms.

English is official and universal, so nothing is needed, but the street speaks Creolese -- wha gwan for what's happening, small piece for a short while, lime for hanging out -- and Guyanese Hindustani words surface in the villages; the Amerindian languages are spoken inland, and Portuguese crosses the Takutu at Lethem.