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Holi Thoughts
Once again we in Guyana have experienced a happy confluence of religious commemorations that reflect our rich diversity. In the midst of the Christian season of Lent, the Muslim community celebrated Youman-Nabi and Hindus joyfully re-enacted the tradition of Holi.
Lent is the forty-day period observed by Christians in preparation for the Easter commemoration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, believers typically fast, pray, do penance, give alms to generally discipline their minds and bodies and better appreciate the act of sacrifice and love by God for humanity.
Not so incidentally, Carnival, which comes from a Latin phrase meaning “removal of meat,” is the three-day period preceding the beginning of Lent. These three days before Ash Wednesday are also known as Shrovetide (“shrove” is an Old English word meaning “to repent”). The Tuesday just before Ash Wednesday is called Shrove Tuesday, or is more popularly known by the French term Mardi Gras, meaning “Fat Tuesday,” contrasting to the fasting during Lent.
The custom became entrenched in many locales to “eat, drink and be merry” – to have a “last fling” so to speak, before the austerities of Lent. Hence, for instance, Carnival in Rio and Trinidad and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It is for this reason that observant Christians were more than a little put off by the billing of our Mash celebrations as our version of “Carnival” even though it commemorates Republic Day, which fell smack in the period of Lent. We have to be a wee bit more aware of our heritages.
Youman Nabi observed the birth of the prophet Muhammed, who is the founder of the world religion of Islam. He is regarded by believers as the exemplar of humanity, so by remembering his life they can better follow in his path and be eventually deserving of reaching Heaven. One renowned philosopher once noted that there are usually three types of leaders. “Men of words”, who can and do articulate a vision for their people; “men of action” who have the ability to translate that vision into deeds so that the vision becomes reality and finally, “men of consolidation” who would be capable of ensuring that the revolutionary changes wrought during the period of action are not lost. Muhammed was one of the handful of leaders through the millennia who combined all three qualities in one person.
Then, of course, there is the religious tradition of Holi, which is usually forgotten in the gaiety of the spring festivals that have become associated with it. It is as if Carnival has become Lent. Ironically the tradition is of great relevance to most modern societies. There is the King who is not satisfied with being the ruler of all that he surveys in his dominion.
He desires even more complete and undivided obeisance. He decides that the devotions that are being offered to God ought to be directed to him. To ensure this circumstance, he deploys the might of the state to be on guard and to weed out all who may not be inclined to worship him as the Almighty.
By and by, all are intimidated into compliance and the King is happy – if increasingly arbitrary – while the people are abjectly unhappy. But opposition arises from an unexpected source – from within the King’s own household – in fact, from his son and heir. The little boy steadfastly refuses to mouth the official line and in fact declares to all and sundry that his father is an imposter.
The real God, he declares, is immanent in all existence. Cajoling, threats and then attempts at murder, including the famous immolation in fire in the lap of his aunt Holika that gave the name to the festival, do not change the boy’s position and the King finally demands proof of the existence of the “other” God.
The faith of the child of course is rewarded by the manifestation of the Divine, who destroys the King. The point for us, in these increasingly hedonistic times, is that each of our many religions assures us that there is a Divinity that supports our existence. Let us not only remember him when faced with destruction.
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