-Hindu community calls for Phagwah to be celebrated cohesively

GUYANESE have been urged to be united as they gather to celebrate the festival of colours, Phagwah, on Thursday.
The Ministry of Social Cohesion and Hindu Core Group sought to spread the message of togetherness during a Phagwah programme at Umana Yana on Tuesday.

Messages of cohesion were portrayed through songs and exhilarating dance performances which were put on during the programme. At the ceremony, Chairman of the Hindu Core Group, Yog Mahadeo said Phagwah should be celebrated in unity.

“There can only be unity in diversity,” said Mahadeo, adding that every year Guyanese from all walks of life gather to celebrate the festival.

Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. George Norton, also stressed the need for togetherness and love during this period of celebration. He called on Guyanese to celebrate the holiday as one people, since it has become a tradition of Guyanese to celebrate holidays despite their religious beliefs.

Representatives of the core group also used the opportunity to urge persons to do some introspection before they move forward.

Phagwah or Holi, is a Hindu spring festival originating from the Indian subcontinent, celebrated predominantly in India and Nepal, but has also spread to other areas of Asia and parts of the Western world through the diaspora from the Indian subcontinent. It is also known as the “festival of colours” or the “festival of love”.

The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships. It is also celebrated as a thanksgiving for a good harvest. It lasts for a night and a day, starting on the evening of the Purnima (Full Moon day) falling in the Vikram Samvat Hindu Calendar month of Phalgun, which falls somewhere between the end of February and the middle of March in the Gregorian calendar.

The first evening is known as Holika Dahan (burning of holika) or Chhoti Holi and the following day as Holi, Rangwali Holi, Dhuleti, Dhulandi, or Phagwah.