Dear Editor,
I am celebrating Phagwah this year in my ancestral villages in Uttar Pradesh, India with relatives I found through diligent research. The celebration of Holi in the Caribbean is not very much different from that in India and indeed in several parts of the country people are already celebrating the festival just as we do in Guyana. There is drumming and folk singing just like among the Hindus in Guyana and Guyanese New Yorkers. This is not surprising because many of the indentured labourers who came to the Caribbean were from aroaund the same region in India. My relatives are from Ghazipur and Azamgarh, and Ghorackpore not far from the holy city of Benares. I have found six sets of relatives from my four grandparents. Two sets of families remain to be found but documents are missing from the Guyana archives and there are no backups in India.
My research revealed that almost two-thirds of the indentured labourers were recruited from along a common strip bordering Bihar and U.P. They took their culture with them explaining why the festivals are similar in the varied locations. Hence the similarities in the celebrations in Guyana and in
India. The folk singing attracts a large following just like in Guyana and delicacies are also served.
In North India, the festival is known as Phagwah but in parts of the country it is called Holi and I also visited the South briefly before heading up North to meet my relatives in a display of deep emotions. In India, as in Guyana and in other parts of the Caribbean, Phagwah crosses ethnic boundaries. It is celebrated by almost all ethnic groups and religions in both places although in India, as in Guyana, some radical non-Hindus take offence when others play Phagwah with them.
Many of us who grew up in Guyana have fond memories of celebrating Phagwah.
Holi has a theme of universal brotherhood and in Guyana it was a boisterous festival of fun and excitement celebrated with revelry by people of all ages and ethnicities. Colours were showered on the people with the community merging into one big fraternity.
There is no distinction of creed, race, and sex and in India there is no separation of caste. It was the most colourful of the Hindu festivals in Guyana and is the same in India. The burning of Holika which will take place tomorrow evening, symbolizes the destruction of evil. Phagwah signifies the triumph of good over evil. Hence the burning of Holika which represented evil. It is hoped that the burning of Holika will destroy the prejudices that exist among some in Guyana as well as in India.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
