TODAY is Good Friday for Christians the-world-over and in Guyana they’re not only observing the start of their holy Easter weekend, but also sharing in the coinciding Muslim Ramadan and Hindu Navratri observances.

Good Friday may be considered by some as being misnamed, as it observes the day Jesus Christ was crucified and killed on The Cross that he bore along the 14 Stations (stops) leading to his cruel death.

But Christian scholars will explain that his Resurrection the next day and Assumption to Heaven on Easter Sunday meant that Friday meant more of good than the evil exacted on Christ that day.

Easter, Ramadan and Navratri all have common philosophical bases, including fasting – a period of voluntary sacrifice that helps cleanse the spirits and souls of all three sets of believers.

The Veda, Quran and Bible come in different stories and languages, but the messages cross the lives of all as they spell chapters that every living being can relate to at one point or another.

Guyana being a CARICOM member-state where official ceremonies and events must start with Hindu, Muslim and Christian prayers, citizens have grown-up communing together religiously, as shared with the world this week through another special World Documentary Feature by Qatar-based international TV channel Al Jazeera, entitled ‘Ramadan in Guyana’.

In the globally-broadcast presentation, President, Dr Irfaan Ali, Guyana’s first Muslim President, informed and reminded the world that all religions are respected here, pointing to the confluence of different denominational and religious observances that started in March and continue into this month.

Also shown was the spread of Islam and other religions across race, class, cultural and social barriers in Guyana, similarly enveloping and embracing citizens of Amerindian, Indo, Afro, Chinese, Portuguese and European extract, in their communities and workplaces, at home or in their respective places of worship.

Viewers across the oceans and skies welcomed the surprise sight and sound of Guyanese Muslims reading the Quran in Islam, just as with Hindus who read the Veda in Hindi and Christians who can still find Biblical quotes, in any version of The Bible for any happening in life.

Caribbean religious adoptions and adaptations are quite unique – and not only in Guyana, as, neighbouring Suriname is the only country where a Muslim Mosque and a Jewish Synagogue exist side-by-side, with no problems.

Likewise, in Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago, where religious multiplicities exist, seasonal observances take place across religious boundaries or borders — none of which actually really exist.

Religious differences can be very accentuated in other regions, like in the Middle East and Europe, where the Arab world is churning over continuing Israeli-Palestinian clashes, including at the Al Aqsa Mosque, where Mohammed ascended to the heavens; and Beirut awoke to two time zones in March as a result of Daylight Saving Time, with serious political and religious consequences for the ungoverned country’s different believers.

Unfortunately, over centuries, religious differences have been allowed to spill over into political and violent crises that have cost countless lives in too many countries.
But fortunately, not so in Guyana, or the rest of CARICOM, where people of different faiths attended same schools and religion never affected their lifelong relationships.

Good Friday is both a holy day and a religious holiday in multi-religious Guyana and throughout the Christian world and its observance here by virtually all Guyanese, whether by fasting or worshipping accordingly, is everlasting testimony that this is forever one Guyana with one people, following one aim and one destiny, through different Gods, but common races, cultures, classes and religions.