The Ides of March having passed six days ago, we are now into the Tides of March featuring the red wave of merriment as Guyana celebrates the annual Phagwah or Holi holiday.
Last night, the “Super Worm Moon” turned full, marking the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and fall in the Southern, several hours after the vernal equinox, when day and night on Earth were the same length, signalling the passing of the seasons.
In joyous preparation for the ancient Hindu spring festival, dried pieces of wood and the symbolic purgative castor oil tree planted 40 days before, would have been consumed in the Holika Dahan or the great cleansing bonfires, hissing and crackling under the shining silver orb, the fine embers and heavy smoke curling far into the starlit sky.
