Guyanese are responsible for Phagwah celebration in NY

Mar 03, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Phagwah will be celebrated at public locations in the NY metro area this weekend in a grand way, perhaps even bigger than in Guyana — on 6, 7 March in Richmond Hill, Queens, by two separate organising bodies comprising two groups of mandirs.
There will also be a parade in the Bronx, one in Jersey City, and one in Central Florida – all organised by mostly Guyanese. The large influx of Guyanese (and Trinis), beginning in the late 1970s and continuing up until this day, has made it possible for Phagwah to be celebrated in NY similar to Guyana except for the brutally cold weather which prevents all the traditions that we experience in Guyana. The Phagwah celebration was not always this large and did not include any public festivities or the trappings of today. In fact it has only taken off over the last 20 years. Prior to 1990, Phagwah observances were minimal in the US and took place indoors.
I remember in the late 1970s, living in the South Bronx as a college student (attending CCNY in Harlem), it was unheard of to celebrate Phagwah in public. At CCNY, Indo-Caribbean students of the Indo Club joined Indian nationals for a short prayer, distribution of Prasad, and snacks including jalebi, burfi, mohanbhog which I would prepare on campus, watching a Bollywood film and a simple dinner organised by myself, Vassan Ramracha and Baytoram Ramharack, among others.
Guyanese simply observed the Phagwah festival at home with prayers and without any abeer.  Family members partook in a traditional vegetarian meal and mohanbhog (prasad). Some individuals would attend religious service at the Pandit Oumdat Maharaj led Mahatma Gandhi Satsangh temple on Townsend Avenue in the South Bronx where Phagwah and other auspicious holidays would be celebrated. Pt. Oumadat’s temple (God bless him) provided a critical spiritual need to Guyanese.
Thousands of Guyanese were settled in the area and they would show up for Sunday morning havan service and on the evenings of auspicious days in the Hindu calendars.  Even Guyanese Christians who felt lonely in NY during the 1970s and 1980s came for the religious service and the Lord’s blessings. Phagwah was celebrated at the temple’s yard on the Sunday before or after the official observance. In Queens, Pandit Jadonath held worshipping service that attracted a significant following in Far Rockaway and later in Richmond Hill. In Brooklyn, on Ave D, near Foster Ave, the huge basement of a tenement building owned by Guyanese, served as a make shift temple where Phagwah was observed in a somewhat subdued manner. The Arya Samajists also had a temple with the large basement of Vishnu Bandhu’s furniture store used for Phagwah celebration. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the few temples hosted chowtal singing on weekends and on Phagwah evening with celebrants using talc powder instead of abeer to sprinkle on one another. Some members of the temples also hosted satsanghs (prayer services) and dinners in their homes accompanied by chowtal singing.
As the Guyanese community grew in Queens in the mid 1980s with more migration, holi Samellan (variety concerts of music and dance) were held annually at public schools (beginning at first at Hillcrest) in Jamaica where thousands of Guyanese had settled. Hundreds would attend the concerts. But the use of abeer was not allowed and playful jollification was restricted to talc powder and minimal use of abrack. In 1990, the parade was launched in Richmond Hill where tens of thousands of Guyanese had made their home.
Today the area is home to about 200,000 Indo-Caribbeans and another 50,000 South Asians. As an outdoor celebration, people felt unrestrained in using abeer, powder and other Phagwah paraphernalia.  Today, the parade attracts about 30,000. During the 1990s, parades were also held in Queens Village (now discontinued) which is home to thousands of Guyanese, the Bronx and Jersey City where thousands of Guyanese are also settled. The Holi Samellans continued during the 1990s in public schools. But with the much larger crowds now, the samellans are held outdoors on the compounds of mandirs or in the streets blocked off by the police. In the past, a light snack was offered at the celebrations. Today, the samellans provide a full meal with people offering a donation.
In the past, people used to look at Phagwah celebrants as being weird for having their faces smeared with colours.
But more and more Americans have become familiar with the festival especially in the areas where the parades are held. Americans no longer consider it odd to see Guyanese playing with talc powder, abrack, gulals and abeer in the city parks. They also like the festival and join in the fun and they love the chowtal and loud tassa music. Many non-Guyanese and many non-Hindus participate in the parade today. Young Afro-Guyanese and Hispanics are also part of the celebration.
So Phagwah has come a long way in NY thanks to the interest shown by Guyanese to propagate the culture in the areas where large numbers of our people are settled.
Vishnu Bisram

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