The annual NY Indo-Caribbean Phagwah Parade is this weekend. Holi or Phagwah is similarly celebrated everywhere in diasporic countries and India. In Guyana, or Trinidad or Suriname, we have grown up with different religions and races, and we have embraced and accepted each other and we celebrate each other’s festivals like Holi, Diwali, Eid, Easter, Christmas, etc. We forget about politics and the politicians who seek to divide us for selfish ends during ethnic festivals. There are bonds we have nurtured because we depend on each other. Phagwah help us to celebrate our differences. Phagwah remind us about unity. People of all ethnicities came or come together.
Many Hindus may have thought that Phagwah ended last Friday with the holiday. But the Phagwah celebrations ended a few days later as per the scriptures and celebrations continued in far away Fiji, Mauritius, the villages of India, and elsewhere. Devout Hindus concluded the Holi celebration last Tuesday evening with prayers and final chowtaal singing in mandirs or at homes in Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad. The celebration in Guyana showed that the celebrants value friendship in a multiracial country.
On Friday, Hindus met at temples, sang bhajans, chowtaal, laughed, danced to rhythmic music and threw talc powder on each other. In Guyana, after burning of Holika, they used to move to other people’s homes and play Phagwah with them. That was not a feature observed in the cities in India although present in the villages where the celebrations are traditional as in Guyana.
The Phagwah activities continued over last weekend among some Guyanese diasporic Hindus in America. People sent Phagwah greetings till Tuesday. The celebration on Friday and other days reminds Guyanese that the festival is special and that it defines who they are as a people and where they came from. There was music and revelry, colors of joy and laughter, religious songs and dancing, and sharing of foods related to the festival including gulgula and ghoja last Friday. The same is expected at the Smokey Park this Sunday after the annual Phagwah Parade.
During Phagwah there is no class or religious or ethnic distinction. People come together to play with abeer and colorful powder. There is a no holds barred ‘playing’ with powder and abeer. Enemies bury the hatchet, looking forward for a new beginning. They learn from mistakes, recognizing that everyone may have some evil thoughts or did some evil deeds and seek to put the past behind. They forgive one another and forget grievances to allow for progress so as to begin a new relationship.
