Holi or Phagwah celebrations, the ancient cultural festival of India brought to and transplanted in the Caribbean and South America and other parts of the globe, was introduced in New York City by Indo-Caribbeans (Trinidadians and Guyanese) when they initially came to and settled in USA during late 1960s. Initially, Indo-Caribbanes came as students and visitors in the 1960s and decided to make America their home. Some Guyanese and Trini migrants obtained residential self sponsorship as religious figures or as musicians and singers for places of worship. Also, some professionals in the medical, technical, and science fields and qualified accountants were granted residencies. Indo-Caribbeans started coming post-1965 following immigration reform signed by President Lyndon Johnson that opened up of the country to Indians and other minorities. Surinamese started emigrating to NY in significant number during the 1980s after the 1980 military coup and a rise in ethnic violence.
The early Indo Caribbean migrants to NY initially lived in Jamaica (Hillside Ave.), Queens and in Manhattan where rentals were very low and affordable. They shared rooms and or apartments to minimize expensive. And they also prepared meals in groups for same reason. As rent increased or as immigration agents ‘raided’ hotels and buiding in search of undocumented, the immigrants moved to ‘safer’ locations. They moved to Brooklyn and Bronx to low rental neighborhood.
Initially, when they first came, they gravitated towards lower Manhattan (streets 50s to single digits). Those already in New York would ‘receive’ (pick up) the newcomers at the airport (JFK), providing for their stay until they obtained employment. The immigrants pursued employment as soon as they arrived in America. It was important for them to work to in order to replenish savings used for or repay loans that financed their trip or to assist other members of the family to make the trip to USA or to uplift family conditions in the home country.
The immigrants clustered at low-cost budget hotels in Manhattan like Martinique (30 St) and Knickerbocker (96 Street) with rooms that had kitchens for meal preparation to cut down on household expenses of having to purchase foods. Trinis and Guyanese lived together and shared dwellings in order to cut down on expenses. They moved into new dwellings when rent increased or when pushed out by hotel management or building owner. And they were always in search of low cost apartments for more space as families grew and or when joined by other migrants from the home countries. Being undocumented and or working with ‘papers’, they sought ‘a corner’ to avoid the attention of immigration agents.
The small number of Indo-Caribbeans in the late 1960s and thru 1970s observed Holi and other festivals in hotel rooms and small apartments where they resided. Indo-Caribbeans took up residency in low cost hotels and apartments especially in the flat iron and garment districts of Manhattan. Muslims and Hindus during the 1960s thru the late 1970s shared apartments. They took turn observing each other religious festivals. The annual observances were held in the small apartments and hotel rooms because the restricted spaces were all that were afforded on a low income; illegal immigrants did not have high income jobs.
As Guyanese and Trinis purchased houses starting in the late 1970s and afterwards (1980s, 1990s, and later), celebrations shifted to private homes, as well as in basements of tenement buildings. As the community grew in size during the 1980s and funds were raised or through business and individual sponsorship, celebrations shifted to rental auditoriums of schools and halls. During the 1980s, as more mandirs were established, the celebrations were held inside the temples or under tents depending on weather or outside on the lawns and courtyards of the mandirs. Initially, mandirs were founded in several basements or apartments and later houses or factories that were converted into mandirs. In the late 1980s and 1990s and later years new temples were constructed from scratch. All celebrations of Hindu festivals, including Holi, were held in them.
The early observances were restrained, inconspicuous, and low profiled so as not to attract attention of authorities (the law). There was no abeer or gulal or loud music or any of the accoutrements that go with today’s celebrations. Music was from stereo or playing recorders with low volume. Talc powder was used to put on each other’s faces and used very sparingly. Music was very low key as the celebrants did not want to attract much public attention that would incur wrath of neighbors who would complain to or call police or Immigration officers; many of the Indo-Caribbeans were undocumented or illegal migrants and did not wish to attract attention that could lead to visits of immigration agents, arrest, and deportation. Hundreds of Guyanese were deported annually for violating terms (like working or overstaying) of their visas. Observances of festivals were very low key during the first several years of the Indo-Caribbean presence in New York.
A little more ostentatious Phagwah was celebrated at Calo Hotel on 56th Street and 8th Avenue in 1970 by the Mahatma Gandhi Satsangh Society and at other locations. The MGSS temple services moved to Martinique Hotel in 1971. Facing pressure from the hotel management, the services moved to Clark Hotel in 1972 and remained there for a few years before the organisation acquired a building on Pacific Street (near Warwick), where Sunday services and Phagwah were celebrated with vibrancy and colors. Holi and Diwali celebrations were also held at the campus of Columbia University hosted by students from India; Yash Pal Soi was the founder of the India students group. He and the Indian students also hosted Bollywood movies at MacMillan Theater at Columbia University that drew the attendance of Indians from the Caribbean.
Later, the MGSS temple moved to the basement of an apartment building on Townsend Avenue in the South Bronx. Pandit Gunnar, son in law of Pt. Oumadat Maharaj, and relatives owned the building and donated the basement of this large apartment building as a temple for services. The mandir remained there for decades. Thousands of Guyanese had settled in the Bronx by the late 1970s and they would attend services at that basement mandir. At City College which had the largest enrolment of Indians in greater NY region, the festival was celebrated annually (with snacks prepared at home or on campus at the Finley center and with drinks) from March 1978 onwards by students of the Indo Club that was founded by this writer (Vishnu Bisram), Vassan Ramracha (the idea was his), Prakash Ramlogan, Baytoram Ramharack and others. This writer organized celebrations and or observances of Indian festivals (Hindu and Muslim) such as Eid, Holi, Diwali, Ram Navami, etc. preparing appropriate meals and snacks (Mohanbhog, sawine, gulgula, bara, phulourie, dhal puri, curries, etc.) and organizing prayers and entertainment (concerts). People patronized the highly-spirited Holi festival that celebrate good over evil.
Phagwah and other Hindu festivals were celebrated at the Townsend apartment building basement mandir during the 1980s. Pandits Gunnar, Walter Misir, and Johnny Dewa were responsible for service at the temple. Phagwah was celebrated in the temple’s yard on the Sunday before or after the official observance. Phagwah services were also held on the evening of the actual day of observance.
Maha Sabha (Shiva Temple) in Elmhurst also hosted annual celebrations at its mandir compound on 110th Street, Northern Blvd. and other festivals were initially observed at Shiva Temple ground in 110 Street, off Northern Blvd., from 1982 onwards. When the temple was constructed, celebrations were held inside the premises. The dousing of abeer and powder was held in the basement or at the back of the mandir or at the empty lot at the side of the mandir.
Pt Tiwari also hosted a mandir in the basement of his apartment building on Ave D (near Foster Ave) in Brooklyn; Phagwah and other festivals were also celebrated there during the 1980s continuing for decades. The celebration continued to spread to other locales where Indians migrated and settled in clusters around NYC. By mid 1980s, several mandirs were founded and had services at basements or in apartments in Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens. Leaders of the several mandirs and Hindu organizations came together to discuss the future of the growing Hindu community and the observance of festivals. They felt the time had come for a large public celebration of Phagwah.
Leaders of Hindu organizations and pandits came together at Ramesh Kalicharran’s real estate office and planned a Holi Samelan concert that was co-sponsored by several community businesses. The cultural variety concert was held at Hillcrest high school in Jamaica, Queens on a Saturday evening in March 1984. It was packed with celebrants. A significant amount of Indo-Caribbean people resided in the Jamaica area and the location was most apt for such a cultural variety concert. Attendees came from all over the city.
Celebrations continued to be held at other locations the following years in school auditoriums and rental halls as well as in mandirs. Vishnu Bandhu organized celebrations beginning in 1984 in his business location at 1262 Broadway building in East NY, Brooklyn that attracted hundreds. he also hosted celebrations of other festivals.
As the Hindu community grew in size and spread out across the city, celebrations of Holi and other festivals proliferated. The Indo-Caribbean population continued to swell in numbers with migration (Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Grenada, St. Lucia, etc.) and American born Indo-Caribbeans, exceeding a couple hundred thousand by the end of 1980s and spread across the boroughs of Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn. Some Indo-Caribbeans were also settled in Staten Island, Manhattan, Long Island and in neighboring counties as well as across the river in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. The American Sevashram Sangha Mandir, in Jamaica Queens also celebrated Holi under the leadership of Shiveshwarandaji Maharaj and other swamis and its executive body.
Community leaders like Ramesh Kalicharran, Pt Ramlall, Dr. Satish Prakash got together in 1989 and discussed the idea of an outdoor Phagwah parade. The meeting took place at the first floor real estate office of Ramesh Kalicharran. This writer was an observer on the outside as discussion took place inside of the inner office of Kali. A decision was taken to have a Phagwah parade in 1990 on Liberty Avenue, the fulcrum of Indo-Caribbean businesses. Kali related the news to this writer who had served as a news reporter for community publications. The following day, this writer re-visited Kali’s office and penned an article on the proposed parade that was published in community papers. Kali stated that concept of the parade was suggested by Indian national Yash Pal Soi who had founded the India Day Parade in 1980 that commemorated India’s independence. Yash confided in me that it was he who approached Kali and suggested a parade that would commemorate an Indo Caribbean festival similar to the FIA parade that would focus attention on the Indian Caribbean community. Since Holi is known as an outdoor festival and considered multicultural, Yash agreed and advised Kali to proceed full speed. The actual discussion, planning, and implementation of the parade was the work of several prominent individuals not the least being Kali, Pt. Satish, and Pt Ramlall, and a few others.
The parade commenced on 133rd Street on Liberty Ave and made its way to 123rd Street before turning right to 95th Ave and another right culminating at Smokey Park on 95th Ave and 125th Street. Initially, there were no floats fir the parade. The organizers and celebrants walked on the road. Dr. Satish stood on top of a truck and spoke about the parade and delivered Holi greetings in English and Spanish. Later years, there were fanciful floats. And some years later, other parades were held in the Bronx, Queens Village, and Jersey City. Public celebrations spread to Schenectady and to Florida.
Holi celebrations in America changed with the launching of the parade in 1990. People began to eagerly looking forward for the festival which is now celebrated in grand splendor. Prior to 1990, Phagwah observances were minimal in the U. S. and took place mostly indoors at public schools or in the temples or their compounds. The parades brought tens of thousands of celebrants together in the largest celebration of the Holi or any festival outside of India. Several mandirs including Mahatma Gandhi Satsangh Society (Oumadat); Brooklyn Hindu Temple (Pandit Viresh Maharaj); Lakshmi Mandir (Pandit Jadonath) and others played Phagwah in or around the compound of their mandirs. The celebrations were subsequently transplanted by Indian Caribbean immigrants from NY to areas where Indo-Caribbeans settled such as in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Minneapolis, Florida, Texas, Georgia, among other states. Mandirs have been established by Indo-Caribbeans in their communities throughout the USA. Indo-Caribbeans tend to cluster forming communities (housing and shops) not dissimilar to other ethnic groups and establishing their own cultural institutions.
The Phagwah parade and observances of other festivals are now cherished institutions in Indo-Caribbean communities that bring people together. The Phagwah parades are known to brings tens of thousands together. Non-Indians and non-Hindus are known to join in the celebrations. It has become a wonderful celebration and a debt of gratitude is owed to all those who worked tirelessly to make it a huge success notably pandits Dr Satish Prakash and Pandit Ramlall and Ramesh Kalicharran. Credit must also be given to others who partook in the first parade and or promoted it including but not limited to: Anand Sukul, Bal Naipaul, Pandit Mahendra Doobay, Radharaman Upadhyaya, Pandit N Bisnauth, Kishore Megnauth, Pt. Prakash Persaud, Pandit Krishna Tiwari, Shri Prakash Gossai, the late Dharmacharya Chandrika Persaud, the late Dharmacharya Arjune Doobay, Jass Persaud, late Dharmacharya Rishi Misir, Pt. Swasti Doobay, Oumadatt Maharj, Oudit Narine Sharma’s son Badri Sharma (can’t confirm if his father Ouditnarine was also there), Pandit Jadonath of Lakshmi Mandir, Pt. Hardowar, Pandit Ram Hardowar, Deonarine Jurakhan, Bhisham Rambrich, Bahen Rohini from ASC, Lutchman Budhai, Pandita Indrowti, Bhai Vidya Sagar Rajpal, Devi Lucknath, Bhai Balram Rambrich, Bhai Narro Balli, myself (Vishnu Bisram) and all others who were so closely involved with the first edition of the parade. All the organisers and promoters including Dhanpaul Narine,Tara Singh, Herman Singh, Romeo Hitlall, bahen Vedo Basdeo, Veerapen Naidoo, Prakash Persaud, Dudnauth Dasrat, Anoop Dhanpat, Anup Ramnath, Pt. Bhola Adinarayn, Pt. Gurdatt Jagnanan, Navin Phagu, Pt. Lakeram Maharaj, Marlene Ramjitsingh, Pt. Parasram, Tara Seetaram, Pt Chunelall, among others should be recognized for their input and contributions in institutionalizing the parade.
As a result of the contributions of many individuals, religious figures in particular, and some not named above but played important roles, Holi and other festivals have become institutionalized in New York City since 1970s. The parade gave a lot of media attention to that and other Hindu festivals like Diwali, Shivratri, Janamashtmi, Ram Naumi, among others. The concept of a Phagwah parade or large outdoor celebration has been emulated and transplanted in several other parts of USA. Indo-Caribbean Americans have immersed themselves in vibrant abeer (colored liquid) and a variety of colorful gulal powders (more brilliant than rainbow) as well as white talc powder. They played Phagwah to continue the tradition they practiced in the Caribbean and that was brought from India. the festival welcomes the spring season on the Hindu calendar. Phagwah is usually considered as end of winter and the beginning of spring on the Hindu calendar. People welcome this new season and partake in the Holi festival with fervor, making it one of the most beloved festivals in the Hindu religion. And in so doing, the festival has become institutionalized in New York City, Schenectady, Jersey City, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, and elsewhere.
