50 SUGAR 



absurdly comical figure, that reminds you of a cheap - 

 Jack who has been at pains to make himself a sight 

 not to be overlooked. For instance, can you possibly 

 help noticing yonder darkie shrimp-seller, in tattered 

 tweed trousers^ a holey singlet, and a battered top-hat 

 with a red cord tied round for band ? 



One of the chief festivals celebrated on every sugar 

 estate which employs coolie labour is the Taja. In 

 British Guiana, all the labourers take part in the Taja, 

 blacks joining the coolies in the ceremony and its 

 attendant merrymaking. The festival is usually held 

 in February, but the exact date varies on the different 

 estates, so that the hands from one can go over and 

 join those on another, thus insuring an extended round 

 of gaiety. 



The Taja is a festival in commemoration of two 

 Mussulman saints, Hassein and Hussein, who were 

 killed in a long-ago big battle, in which they distin- 

 guished themselves by mighty deeds of valour. A 

 spot is selected and designated, for the time being, as 

 the tomb of the prophets. The earth of this sacred 

 spot is beaten hard and smooth. Then there is built 

 a structure which is called the Taja ; it is a magnificent 

 erection of bamboo, cardboard and paper, from twenty 

 to thirty feet high. In the bamboo framework of this 

 pagoda-like tower huge cardboard boxes are placed 

 one above the other, each box above the ground-storey 

 fitting into the one below ; the successive storeys are 

 surrounded by galleries. All the corners are decorated 

 mtlf coloured, pasteboard balls, and the whole erec- 

 tion is profusely ornamented with tinsel and festoons 

 of coloured paper, and surmounted with the figure of 

 a cock. 



