Dear Editor,

THIS year, as was also the case last year, there would be no Phagwah parade because of the pandemic. Large gatherings are not allowed and the City has cancelled all parades to protect public health. Nevertheless, community leaders have organised Phagwah celebrations online – virtual celebrations. One was held for several hours last Sunday and another is planned for this Sunday – live performances. Artistes performed live in temples or halls or in their homes and their performances were beamed live globally. Some City politicians also hosted virtual celebrations. Those who organised these celebrations, Indra Seet, Imran Ahmed, and others must be applauded for their leadership.  They provide entertainment and remembrance of the celebration at a time when critically needed – lives are down as a result of the pandemic. Some four hundred thousand Guyanese are settled in the greater New York area and look forward for Phagwah parades in Queens, Bronx, and Jersey City. In their absence, the virtual celebrations are a good fill in. Phagwah has made its mark to bring people together in New York and this is all due to the work of Guyanese cultural and organisational community leaders — Guyana’s unofficial ambassadors in the City.

The celebration promotes a common feeling of togetherness and rekindles the flame of unity among diverse people. In normal times, the festival would be celebrated in the streets culminating in an open park with a splurge of colours and chowtaal folk songs and dances. Chowtaal is a tradition that has been handed down from ancestors from India. The New York celebration is giving the Guyanese nation a great promotion of the unique culture (of music, cuisine, folklore, and folk songs) brought from the India and blended with local conditions. The New York Phagwah parade attracted celebrants from all over the US with a mammoth gathering at Smokey Park, or Queens Village, or Grand Concourse, or Jersey City, where there was playful jollification with all the paraphernalia (abeer, gulal, abrack, pitchkarie, etc.) relating to Phagwah and appropriate music. There is chowtaal galore and tassa drumming and a cultural variety concert.  Volunteers provided free hot and cold beverages and traditional snacks (bara, phulourie, channa, mohanbhog, etc.) to the teeming crowd.

It is no easy task to organise the parades and the park celebration.  It took many hours of meetings to put together those celebrations. The same is true of virtual celebrations. The planners and organisers deserve kudos for sacrificing their time to provide a day of lovely entertainment for the large Guyanese diaspora in the New York metro region and now virtually for the diaspora of so many countries. The celebration brings people together in a day of love and peace, helping to bridge racial and religious barriers and ease social tensions among Guyanese of all backgrounds. The participation of different groups in the celebration is a testament of the appreciation they show of each other’s culture because over the years the Phagwah celebrations in Guyana and North America have encouraged cultural tolerance. Today, we see diverse people coming to celebrations of Phagwah all over America.  Politicians hosted celebrations in years gone by which included dances, singing of chowtaal, tassa, and dinner.

The official City Hall celebrations make us feel proud of the cultural contributions to New York society of our ancestors from India to Guyana and from there to America. The civility of Phagwah celebration in Guyana as well as in New York, this coming together of diverse groups, is a stepping-stone towards greater understanding of diverse people. Thank you Guyana for this great culture and thank you New York Holi organisers for virtual celebrations allowing us to enjoy the festival in the diaspora just like we do back home in years gone by and as is also being done in Guyana virtually.
Without a virtual sammelan or festivity or utsav, there would be no significant Phagwah celebration because there would be no public avenue to celebrate the joyous festival known for its vibrancy of colours. Thanks folks! I hope community leaders will continue to promote these kinds of festivals virtually to showcase Guyana.

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram