A Description and Interpretation of the Kwe-Kwe Tradition in Guyana

Abstract

traditional songs, and the dramatising of the words of the songs by the dancers. Although the Kwe-Kwe dancing and singing are the major activities of this weddingeve function, they are only part of the evening's activities. The whole wedding-eve event involves much merry-making, eating, drinking, and the performance of tasks preparatory to the wedding ceremony and reception on the wedding day. Close friends of the bride or groom (henceforth the 'girl' and the 'boy' respectively) are generally in attendance, and there is much teasing and intimate in-group joking among these latter. Older people who attend usually take the opportunity to advise the person to be married on how to conduct his or her domestic and sexual affairs in marriage. Participants usually bring their wedding gifts on Kwe-Kwe night and remain until the wee hours of the morning. Kwe-Kwe ceremonies are less popular than they were up to about the mid-sixties, but they are still frequently held, especially in rural villages. The occasion is normally hosted by the parents or guardians of the boy or girl. The word Kwe-Kwe is the most widely known designation for the cultural phenomenon being discussed here, but the event is also known as Kaakalay, Kwe-Ke and Mayan. The word Mayan seems to be peculiar to the village of Mahaicony, and Kwe-Ke is apparently restricted to areas in Berbice, east of the Canje bridge. Informants reporting on Kwe-Kwe forms have varied considerably in their understanding and interpretation of various aspects of the event. This is not surprising, for it is well known that oral folk traditions vary in detail and emphasis from locality to locality, and Kwe-Kwe is no exception. In the course of conducting research for this paper, I found so much variation among reports that I am sure that no description I give will be wholly satisfactory to everybody acquainted with Kwe-Kwe. Frankly, I am not too worried about that, for I am rather doubtful that any 'right' set of Kwe-Kwe rules exists today, or ever existed, since, to my knowledge, no effort has ever been made to standardize Kwe-Kwe or any other kind of folk expression in Guyana. I am equally sure, though, that in all serious Kwe-Kwe performances, a set of cultural ideas forms its core, and it is on this core of ideas that I wish to concentrate in this paper. For the purpose of this presentation, let us assume that the couple to be married are both living in Mahaicony (since most of my informants are from that village on the East Coast, Demerara). Let us assume also that they are both of Afro-Guyanese descent and are both participants in the popular vernacular culture. Provided that the economic circumstances of the parents or guardians can support it, a Kwe-Kwe (Mayan in this case) will be held in the respective homes of the girl and her prospective spouse.