Dear Editor,
THE celebrations of Diwali, Eid, and Holi evolved slowly from indoor rooms and apartments to halls and mandirs and masjids to outdoors from the 1960s to 1990s, when they became institutionalized, especially as part of New York and Toronto’s calendar of events and public festivities.

My conversations with early Guyanese and ‘Trini’ immigrant pioneers in America, UK, and Canada reveal early Diwali was very small – indoors of hotel rooms and apartments in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Although celebrated in secluded communities during their early presence, Diwali, Holi, and Eid became a kind of a national festival in the US and UK only in the 1990s and in Canada in the 2000s – given recognition by politicians who themselves began hosting celebrations for their Hindu constituents.

Outdoor cultural (Diwali, Holi, and Islamic) celebrations in New York were not possible until the 1980s when Americans slowly became familiar with Indian Guyanese culture and many Guyanese had become home owners and began lighting deyas in front of their homes. The first outdoor Indian cultural programme was organised by myself, Bhanu Dwarika of Trinidad, Isherdat Ramdehal, Ramesh Kalicharran, and Gora Singh of Guyana, and others at Rufus King Park in Jamaica, Queens, in 1985 on the occasion of Indian Arrival; prior to that Indian Arrival, Diwali, Holi and Eid celebrations were indoors.

The first major Diwali concert celebration with a Diwali Queen was held at Washington Irving High School on 16th Street Manhattan in 1984 and was organised by myself, Nohar Singh, Baytoram Ramharack, Vassan Ramracha, and others – sponsored by BWIA and a few other companies. I served as emcee of that programme.
Bhanu Dwarika, Clyfee Madhu and Vision of Asia host Anita Sharma, among others from India were judges. Electronic lights during Diwali and Eid were not introduced until the 1990s when Indians began to assert their cultural in the and political place in society as equals to others.

Outdoor Muharram celebrations were held in the early 1980s and were organised by Imam Safarally of Trinidad and held in mid-Manhattan on the West side. Outdoor Eid celebrations did not begin until the 1990s by Haji Zakir and his Islamic Guyanese group; prior to that, Eid prayers and festivities were held at rented halls or ballrooms of hotels; I attended several in my capacity as a community news reporter. Safarally and Zakir used to also attend Hindu functions.

The growing presence of South Asians (Indians from India in particular) helped to popularise Indian (and by extension Indo-Guyanese) culture and non-Indians learn of the significance of Diwali. (Indians began settling in America after 1965, when a law was passed allowing non-Whites to acquire residency and citizenship.
Indians were not allowed to become U.S. citizens; and they were only allowed into the country because of a shortage of skilled labour to service industries. And as such, much was not known about Indian culture and religious practices until the 1990s).

During the 1960s, no Guyanese owned homes in the U.S. and Canada and only a few became homeowners during the 1970s to facilitate outdoor Diwali or Holi or Eid celebrations. (A few Guyanese purchased properties in England in the late 1960s and more did so during the 1970s and thereafter).

Even those who owned homes were fearful or embarrassed to light deyas outside of their homes for fear of being reported to the Fire Department or laughed at by neighbours for practising “something strange or weird.” In Manhattan, there used to be bhajan-singing and Hindu prayers at 14th Street and First Avenue and at Clark’s and other hotels in mid town.
It was not until the 1960s that Indo-Guyanese came to NY. They lived in block clusters allowing for informal formation of Hindu and Islamic organisations. They hosted religious ceremonies in the apartments or hotel rooms. In one instance, a hotel room was jointly rented by Hindus and Muslims, and they took turn hosting religious services.

They collaborated in organising programmes for their festivals and preparing parsad, sirni, and meals. Halal food was not possible in the early years, except when imams would go to a farm and purchasea animals that were slaughtered in his presence. Live meat markets in NY and halaal meat became more available in the late 1980s and were popularised from the 1990s.
When I came to the U.S. as a 16-year-old to study medicine in 1977, there were block clusters of Guyanese in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. Diwali and Eid or Holi celebrations occurred indoors in the apartments and Guyanese shared eating goodies among friends and neighbours. If Diwali fell on a weekday, not many snack items were prepared as it was a working day.
There were the basic dhal puri, bara, phulourie, alou, channa, pumpkin and sweet rice. (Baigan was not always available and bora was not present in the vegetable markets until the 1980s at a high cost).

And Diwali or Phagwah dinner was late because it took a lot of time to prepare those various dishes. Neighbours would prepare items and shared in order to lessen the workload. If Diwali fell on a weekend, the celebration were a little more elaborate with other items. Every ingredient was prepared from scratch.
The stores had no ground dhal and there was no chowmein or mangoes (for chutney) in the stores. West Indian stores did not open up until the late 1980s when Little Guyana began in Richmond Hill. Prior to that, cultural items were obtained from Little India in Manhattan. Diwali and Holi celebrations at mandirs did not begin until the mid-1980s and Eid in Masjid in the 1990s.

At City College, I joined others in organising Diwali celebrations in 1977 with a prayer and sharing of some sweets purchased from Indian shops. The club got $100 from student fees based on its membership size. The celebration was hosted by the India Club that was formed by earlier students around 1969. The Caribbean Students Association would have nothing to do with Indian celebrations. So naturally, Indo-Caribbeans gravitated towards India Club.
But we could not relate to Indian nationals in the India Club and their paucity of cultural activities and their way of celebrating festivals. So Indo-Caribbeans formed their own Indo Club in 1978 and began hosting celebrations. The India Club soon became dysfunctional and was dissolved.

As the Indo-Caribbean student population increased, Diwali celebrations on campus also grew. I was put in charge of organising Diwali and Holi celebrations. These were massive as I used to rent a hall (for free – Lewison Lounge) on south campus of CCNY that was fully equipped with a kitchen and cooking as well as eating utensils.
Every year, I cooked up a storm (dhal puri, phulourie, making parsad, etc and the like) for Holi, Diwali, and Christmas and other special events. In 1980 when Vassan Ramracha (Treasurer) and myself (Science Senator) were members of the student government, we successfully piloted a motion for the government to sponsor a cultural concert of a Guyanese band – Popos’s of the Bronx that attracted a packed ballroom of over 500 and that also provided catered snacks and drinks that I had organised.

The club’s varied programmes and festivities and Indian monthly Bollywood films attracted non-Indians from Guyana, other parts of the Caribbean and Africa. The Black students from Africa knew of Diwali and Holi as it was celebrated in their communities by Indians who had settled in Africa during the 1800s. Indians from India and other countries also patronised our programmes.

The few Muslims in the club took no interest in organising Eid or Muharram celebrations, although I volunteered to assist. I used to make Vamazally on campus for festivals. Muharram and Eid were initiated on the West side of Manhattan by Indo-Trini Muslims and later in Queens by the Haji Zakir Islamic group.
As Indo-Caribbeans acquired homes in growing numbers and established their own communities in Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn, the Diwali, Holi and Eid celebrations have taken on a life of their own. They have become institutionalised. The invitation of neighbours for Diwali dinner and for puja or Jhandi or Koran Sharief or Christian service helped with the understanding and acceptance of Indian culture.

As the meaning of Diwali celebration was explained and how and why it is celebrated, it was widely accepted by non-Indians. They loved the spectacle of it and the delicious foods. By the 1990s, Diwali became very popular. Outdoor celebrations spread throughout the city and other parts of the country. It was popularised by coverage in the mainstream American media and by public celebrations in Manhattan and various parts of New York and New Jersey. Even politicians began hosting celebrations.

Indian celebrations are accepted as normal in these communities; streets and buildings are decorated. Politicians and businesses accept them as part of the city’s calendar of events. Programmes are held all over the city. People accept them as part of the city’s culture and look forward to them.
It has become the tradition of U.S. Presidents from Bill Clinton onwards to issue Diwali or Holi or Eid greetings. It is the same in Canada and the UK, where prime ministers send out Diwali greetings.

The Diwali, Holi, and Eid celebrations and recognition by governments and politicians in America or other parts of the Guyanese diaspora would not have been possible without the pioneering spirit of the early migrants of the 1960s and 1970s like Pandits Oumadat and Walter Misir, as well as by Imam Safarally of Trinidad and Haji Zakir, media personality Clyfee Madhu and several others, including student activists Vassan Ramracha, Baytoram Ramharack, and myself from CCNY.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram