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Guyanese in Holi celebrations in India

Mar 14, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Several groups of Guyanese and others are in India as tourists to experience Holi celebrations.  There is a group of 59 (led by singer Lake Persaud) and another group of 30 currently in Jaipur and many more all over India gearing up for the celebration. As experienced in India by this writer half a dozen times, in dozens of Holi trips to Bharatdesh, the festival is a wonderful memorable experience similar to that in Guyana years gone.  Travelers in India say they have had a great time celebrating Phagwah in India.

Holi Dahan (burning of the symbolic Holika – a bonfire of wood, leaves, and other burning materials) took place on Thursday night and was celebrated in India on Friday as a national holiday. The fire symbolizes the destruction of evil. Things are thrown into the fires in a symbolic purge of evil and victory of good.

As in Guyana years gone by, every community (including in the city) has least one Holika for the bonfire. The burning of Holika, playful jollification, getting together or going house to house to douse others with abeer and gugal, entertainment, and feast for the celebrations are similar to that in Guyana.

In India, as in Guyana, although a Hindu festival, non-Hindus also partake in the festivities especially in the north. People of all faiths, except Christian and Islamic leaders, are engrossed in the celebrations. It is called the festival of colors and take on a non-religious atmosphere — and there are a multitude of colors of abeer (liquid) and powder (gulal) unimaginable. Mandirs and banks of rivers are visited for the playing of Phagwah. The playing with powder tends to create a rainbow haze.

In India as in Guyana, people start playing Phagwah days ahead of the actual holiday. As we do in Guyana, people smear powdered colors on each other’s’ faces and or drench each other in colorful or plain water. Celebrants go from house to house, village to village. People throw water on others- complete strangers- as in Guyana. Entire streets in the village and cities are filled with people. Water balloons are also flung. Spray or squint guns are also used. Faces are daubed with thick pigmentation of powders. Some participants are slowly transported on tractor or trucks or animal pulled carts. There is singing and dancing to drum, dantaal, and jaal beats. The music follows a rhythm.  People feast on a variety of snacks when going from house to house and even on streets. It is one of the few days in which snacks and sweets are not sold and are distributed to the public. Food is plentiful. No one leaves a home as a guest without eating. The snacks are similar as in Guyana – gulgula, bara, phulourie, pakoras of various vegetables, channa, mitai, ladoos, ghoja, and other sweets. Lunch and dinner include an array of dishes made of vegetables and dhal (not only yellow dhal but other types as well), roti, rice, and kheer or sweet rice. In the north, dhal puri (made from different type of peas like channa, pigeon peas, and green peas) is a favorite and prepared only for some festivals like Holi and Diwali. Dhal puri, chutney, and alou curry or some other curried vegetables are very popular. People drink chai (a special milk and spiced flavored tea). As in Guyana, some of the older folks engage in liquor drinking and even bang (toxic drink made from poppie seeds or other drugs and milk, nuts, and sugar).

Holi has spread way beyond the borders of India and Guyana. In the Guyanese and Indian diaspora in North America, Holi is similarly celebrated as in Guyana and India but on the weekend before or after the holiday with cultural programs and playing with colorful powders and abeer. Over the last couple weeks, there were several Holi celebrations in New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and other American states and in Toronto similarly as in Guyana.

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram

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