NY Guyanese Hindus Concludes Festival

Oct 14, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

New York based Guyanese Hindus and those settled in other American states concluded their religious fasting and observance for Navratri on Saturday evening with the celebration of Dussehra. Navratri festival that has been transplanted into USA from Guyana. It is the most auspicious period of fasting for Hindus and the period was marked with prayers at mandirs throughout America.

Navratri is nine nights of observance (prayers) of the feminine aspects of the lord, the annual period of fasting that pays obeisance to the universal mother. Some individuals fast for the entire period while others fast on particular days of their choosing. The fasting may continue days later for the more devout.

Guyanese and other Caribbean Hindus have helped to institutionalize Navratri and other religious festivals in America where they have settled and established conclaves or communities. They receive support and recognition from American politicians in exchange for votes and or campaign funding.
Navratri worshipping involves making offerings in the morning and evening during the period. It is a festival that is mainly celebrated during the night with prayers and a discourse that also includes invocation of mantras from the spiritual texts and kirtan choral singing as well as loud traditional music.

The Navratri festival began on October 3 and will conclude on Oct 11. The observance will extend on Vijay Dashmi (10^th day) and into the Dussehra celebration on October 12. The popular Ramleela celebrations are associated with this period and some temples are holding such celebrations. Such plays are common in Guyana, Trinidad, and Suriname and throughout India. Dussehra, tied to Ram Leela, symbolizes the conquest of good over evil. Navratri is among the holiest periods in the Hindu calendar that was accompanied with people fasting, visiting mandirs, and performing pujas as well as inviting pandits to conduct special services at their home. People fasted during this period focusing on purification of the minds and bodies. It us a period when Hindus perform special puja at home officiated by one or more Pandits. Many Guyanese conducted such pujas at home.

There are over one hundred West Indian temples throughout America and they held discourses on the occasion.

Navratri is associated with the propitiation of the feminine aspects of the Almighty. As Pandit Vishnu Panday of Peter Hall Mandir pointed out, during this period, people tend to pray with great fervour and devotion. Of the nine nights, three each are focused on Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswatee. Each Goddess is worshipped for three nights to offer protection (Durga), provide wealth (Lakshmi) and guide the devotee to knowledge (Saraswati) respectively. At the mandirs, devotees were observed dressed in traditional colourful attire. Queens is inundated with dozens of mandirs. The Bronx and Brooklyn and neighboring New Jersey also has several Guyanese or Trinidadian mandirs. Pandit Rajin Balgobind of New Amsterdam held nightly service under a massive tent at the Cheddi Jagan, Pandit Ramlall Ground on 133^rd Street, off Liberty Ave, in the heart of the Indian Guyanese and Indian Caribbean American community . Hundreds graced the nightly.

There are two celebrations of Navratri – each associated with the changing seasons in India, one in Spring and one in Fall. In the spring Navratri, Hindus celebrate the birth or appearance of Lord Rama, and in the fall, Hindus celebrate the destruction of the evil Ravana by Lord Rama, signifying the triumph of good over evil which is also called Dussehra, signaling the end of the fasting until Diwali at the end of the month.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram

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