Holi or Phagwah is a religious festival. It is also a national festival in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago where it belongs to other categories as well, viz, a calendar and a traditional festival. There are many stories about its origins in ancient India a few hundred years before the Christian era, but it was brought to the Caribbean by indentured Indians, has imbedded itself in local traditions and has grown to be a national event out of its earlier observance among Hindus on the sugar estates. It was celebrated in Guyana and Trinidad last week.
Sacred to Hinduism, it is typical of those religious festivals that are multi-faceted, having close participation in sacred rituals and worship by devotees and believers, but also exhibiting a larger public outreach. This takes the festival to a wider audience and participation in the public arena outside the religion and the circle of
