The 16th Annual Phagwah Parade: An Expression of Indo-Caribbean Identity in New York City

Written by Jessie Thisell: May 2, 2005

Introduction

The Phagwah Parade is a celebration of the Hindu holiday Phagwah, also known as Holi.  In general, the name Phagwah is used by Indo-Caribbeans and the name Holi is used in Northern India, but at the parade that took place in 2005, the terms were used interchangeably.  The parade attracts people of Guyanese, Trinidadian, Jamaican and Surinamese origin, but the members of the parade committee are all Guyanese, as are the majority of the Indo-Caribbeans in Richmond Hill where the parade takes place.  Despite the largely Guyanese presence at the parade, the organizers describe this as an Indo-Caribbean event, not only Guyanese, and not only Hindu either.  Guyana is a country whose many cultures remain a source of pride for the parade committee members.  The citizens of Guyana are predominantly of Indian and African origin but there are also people of Chinese and Amerindian descent.  The major religions in Guyana are Christianity, Hinduism and Islam.[1]  Because Phagwah is a national holiday in Guyana, everyone participates in the parade regardless of his or her religion or ethnicity.  In New York the crowd consisted predominantly of Hindu Indo-Caribbeans; however, the post-parade festivities featured a speech by a Muslim cleric, and a diverse group of people watched the parade from their homes, although they did not participate directly.

The 2005 Phagwah Parade, which took place in Richmond Hill on Sunday April 3, was the sixteenth to have been held.  It began at twelve p.m. and featured seventeen floats.  The parade began at 133^rd Street and Liberty Avenue.  It continued along Liberty Avenue, the main commercial thoroughfare in Richmond Hill, until 123^rd Street, where it turned right onto a residential street.  The parade turned right again at 95^th Street and then terminated at Smoky Oval Park, where there were speakers and cultural performers, and people continued to “play Phagwah”.  This phrase is used to describe the smearing of gulal, a powdered dye, which is sprinkled when people are playing Phagwah.  The dye is often dissolved in water and squirted on people during the festivities.  “Play” is the perfect word to describe the activity because it captures the joy and abandon of the activity.

In addition to being a celebration of Phagwah the parade serves several other functions for the Indo-Caribbean community in Queens.  It provides a forum for demonstrating patriotism towards one’s Caribbean country of origin as well as showing pride in one’s new home, the United States.  The large attendance at the parade demonstrates the political power of the Indo-Caribbean community in Richmond Hill and provides an opportunity for politicians to visit the area and interact with their constituents.  The parade is also an enjoyable occasion that appeals to youth and allows them to participate in a religious act while celebrating their cultural heritage.  Finally, the planning and execution of the parade force the community to negotiate its ethnic and religious identity.

Why a Parade?

When asked why they chose to start a Phagwah parade in Queens, different committee members gave different answers.  Pandit Ramlall, the parade co-director, said that while in India in 1989 he witnessed a Christian children’s parade and decided to start something similar with the Arya Spiritual Center vacation camp.  It was such a success that it provided inspiration for a full scale Phagwah parade.  When I asked Dr. Narine, the parade’s publicity director, he said that a parade is a customary way to celebrate Phagwah in Guyana, so members of the Guyanese Hindu community wanted to bring the tradition to New York.  Those are both simple answers which explain the basic motivations behind the establishment of a Phagwah parade, but do not acknowledge the many functions it plays beyond simply establishing a familiar tradition in Richmond Hill.  When I asked Dr. Narine about the size of the first parade, he said it was small and the organizers had been discouraged from starting a parade by members of the community board because they were “just a bunch of immigrants” and people doubted that they could establish a successful parade.[2]  Establishing a parade created an opportunity to show that the Guyanese are not simply “a bunch of immigrants” but a powerful and vital community in Queens.

Parades have long been a way for emerging communities to demonstrate their presence and power.  In Susan Davis’ book Parades and Power, she says,

As dramatic representations, parades and public ceremonies are political acts: They have pragmatic objectives, and concrete, often material, results.  People use street theatre, like other rituals, as tools for building, maintaining, and confronting power relations.[3]

The Phagwah parade is a religious celebration on the surface, but another major component is confronting the power relations within the community of Richmond Hill.  The neighborhood of Richmond Hill is sometimes referred to as “Little Guyana” because of the dominance of Guyanese businesses along Liberty Avenue, its main thoroughfare, but the neighborhood also has sizable Hispanic, White (non-Hispanic), and Pacific Islander populations.[4]  Some non-Guyanese in Richmond Hill resent the characterization of their neighborhood as a Guyanese neighborhood.  Many on the parade committee feel that these residents are reluctant to admit that their neighborhood is changing.  By staging a parade which attracts nearly 50,000 people, the Guyanese are reaffirming their presence in the community.  Davis continues: “In the nineteenth-century city, parades were used to define what society was or might be.”[5]  Although she is writing about nineteenth-century Philadelphia, the same concept can be applied to twenty-first century Queens.  Parades such as the Phagwah parade define what the society is by demonstrating the ethnicity and religious customs of its participants.  In this case the Guyanese are showing in an assertive but civil way that Richmond Hill is a Guyanese neighborhood.

Having a Phagwah Parade is traditional in Guyana, which clearly inspired the Guyanese who made their homes in New York.  Even if a parade was not common in Guyana, however, it would not have been surprising if a Phagwah Parade had emerged in New York.  In the early nineties the number of parades in New York City reached such a height that City Hall debated limiting the amount of permits issued.  In 1991 there were 760 parades and 3,000 street events.[6]  Despite the cost of policing and cleaning up after the many parades, the mayor was reluctant to alter the policy of providing a parade permit for any group that applied for one, because he felt the parades were an example of the “gorgeous mosaic” that is New York City.[7]  In Susan Slyomovics’ essay on the Muslim World Day Parade, one of the organizers remarks, “New York City is a city of parades.  We saw other parades show their communities’ strength, so we thought we have to do this too.”[8]  When Dr. Narine spoke of the initial dismissal of their plans for a Phagwah parade, it sounded like he too wanted to show his community’s strength.

Why Phagwah?

There are numerous Hindu holidays throughout the year which could provide an occasion for a parade in Richmond Hill, so why Phagwah?  The most obvious answer is that in Guyana Phagwah was an occasion for a parade, so that custom was transplanted to Queens.  Beyond that, there are reasons why the holiday of Phagwah or Holi is particularly well-suited to a parade, whether in Richmond Hill or Georgetown, and also reasons why making Phagwah the most publicly visible holiday is a wise choice for the Guyanese community in New York.

Holi, as Phagwah is called in northern India where the holiday originated, is named after the demoness Holika.  Holika’s brother was the demon king Harnakas (Hiranyakashipu)  who was infuriated by his son Prahlada’s devotion to Rama, the true god.  Holika believed she was fireproof, so she took her nephew Prahlada into a bonfire to punish him, but she was burned alive instead.[9]  The holiday begins with a  bonfire symbolizing the destruction of Holika and the triumph of good over evil, and is followed the next day by “playing Holi” and activity associated with Lord Krishna, who was the first to “play Holi” with Radha and the gopis.[10]  In northern India, where Krishna was born, the holiday is celebrated with particular gusto.  It symbolizes the coming of spring, harvest time, fertility and the triumph of good over evil.  Parades are uncommon, but huge crowds gather to be covered in dye and squirted with water.    The nature of the holiday makes it a good occasion for a parade because the festivities are communal and lighthearted; they translate well into a street a celebration.

The holiday is also particularly well suited to New York City.  The organizers frequently speak of the abundance of colors during Phagwah as signifying diversity.  For many of the residents of New York City its amazing diversity is a source of pride and one of the major benefits of the city.  Members of the Guyanese community often speak fondly of the diversity of their native country and in Queens they once again live with many different ethnicities.   At the Phagwah celebration at City Hall, entitled “Hindu Festival of Colors”, both City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Queens Councilman Leroy Comrie used the occasion to celebrate the wonderful diversity which characterizes New York City.[11]  The pandits at the celebration later likened this diversity to the many colors at a Phagwah celebration and said that on Phagwah we shower each other with dye until we are all one color and our differences are erased.[12]

I had repeatedly been told that in Guyana Phagwah is not a celebration restricted to Hindus.  Because it is a national holiday when people do not have to work and schools are closed, Muslims and Christians participate as well.  At the post-parade celebration Pandit Ramlall initiated a prayer for Pope John Paul II and a Muslim cleric spoke, praising the Hindu and Muslim residents of Queens for living in harmony.  Despite these gestures I did not see evidence that non-Hindus were participating in the parade.  I do not think all of the parade participants were as religious as the committee members–some of them may not even belong to a mandir–but they were primarily Indo-Caribbeans as opposed to Caribbeans of African descent.

The parade began on a Sunday morning at noon, so as it progressed along Liberty Avenue the many Christian churches which occupy storefronts were finishing their services.  As the predominantly Hispanic congregants left their churches, Bibles in hand, I did not see anyone join in the festivities.  In fact they seemed to look upon the parade with bewilderment.  After the parade, while walking towards the subway, I heard someone say “what a mess” in a very negative voice regarding the powder smeared across my face.  Although most residents of Richmond Hill seemed know what was going on, there was no indication that the Phagwah Parade brought the various ethnic groups of the neighborhood together in celebration, which is how the Guyanese view of the parade is often described.

Parade Planning

The planning for the Phagwah Parade begins in December.  Members of the parade committee include pandits from the local mandirs, businessmen, and teachers.  One member is currently running for City Council for the 28^th District in Queens.  Of the seventeen parade committee members there was only one woman, Vedo Basit, but she was the secretary and played a prominent role at the meetings and acted as the co-master of ceremonies at the celebration following the parade.  The parade committee met four times throughout the winter and early spring to delegate responsibilities and keep updated on general progress.  The meetings would begin with prayer, followed by a reading of the previous meetings minutes, and then a discussion of new business.  The meetings concluded with prayer and lasted approximately one and a half hours.  Administrative issues in planning the parade included obtaining a parade permit and a permit for Smoky Oval Park, where the parade terminates and “Phagwah play” continues.  The treasurer needed to collect money for the float rental and the cost of insurance.

A major issue this year was the clean-up of Smoky Oval Park.  In the spring of 2004 a member of the Guyanese community had volunteered to clean the park.  He never arrived after the festivities ended, so the city cleaned the park the following day and kept the $2,500 security deposit.  The general consensus throughout the spring was that the committee should pay a contractor to clean the park rather than relying on the good-will of a member.  As of the last planning meeting a contractor had not been secured.  The cleaning of the park was a major issue because last year one of the committee members, Pandit Chandrica Persaud, provided the money for the deposit and was never reimbursed.  $2,500 is a significant sum for an individual to lose.  At the final meeting, when Pandit Chandrica agreed to once again provide the money for the security deposit, he seemed slightly annoyed that the responsibility had once again fallen on him.  Representatives from each mandir sponsoring a float were present at this meeting and they each pledged $200 to reimburse Pandit Chandrica if for some reason the security deposit was not refunded by the city.

The atmosphere of the meetings was generally relaxed, with frequent jokes and laughter.  When certain matters were discussed, however, it became much tenser.  These included the lost money from the park clean-up, comments made by one member of the Guyanese community regarding in the New York Times article on Guyanese in Richmond Hill, and parade committee members getting recognition for their work.  The parade committee had official letterhead which they used for correspondences related to the parade.  When the letterhead was first revealed and one man who regularly attended the meetings and was a longtime supporter of the parade was not on it, he nearly stormed out.  During another meeting Kawall Totaram, a man who never attended the parade committee meetings, was mentioned.  He was given a title because he had many personal and business contacts and was able to secure a lot of money for the parade. When Pandit Gotiram suggested he deserved the title because “he can do things the rest of us can’t” Bhai Latch became very annoyed with that characterization and a rather heated debate followed.[13]  The parade planning demonstrates the politics which exist within the Guyanese community.  At both the parade and the Phagwah celebration at City Hall there was presentations of certificates and plaques to recognize achievement within the community.  Even though parade committee members often joked about the abundance of awards given at the previous year’s parade, people clearly valued the recognition afforded by these presentations.

The Floats

Another major administrative task for the parade committee is ordering floats from the Bond Float Company in New Jersey.  The floats are sponsored by Indo-Caribbean mandirs and businesses from the Richmond Hill area.  The float registration fee, which goes to the parade committee, is $150.00 and the rental fee, which is paid directly to the float company, is approximately $1,500 per float.  The Bond Float Company provides floats for most parades in New York City.  The floats are flatbeds pulled behind trucks and are wrapped in floral sheeting adorned with various fringes and garlands.  The mandir or business sponsoring the float provides the float company with designs for signs or decorations they would like on the float and the Bond Company Builds them.  The signs usually include the name of the mandir and sometimes a sign for a business which helps support the cost of the float.  The floats sponsored by the mandirs also have various religious symbols such as Hindu Gods or the Om symbol.  Any large sign or decoration is supplied by the float company.

On the day of the parade members of the participating mandirs arrived early to personalize the floats with more garlands or balloons, but the floats arrived from the Bond Float Company nearly ready to go.  The primary way a mandir or business personalized their float was with the presence of its members as it moved along the parade route.  Many of the floats played music and would feature people dancing — some in traditional Indian clothing such as saris and salwar kameez and others wearing white T-shirts which various businesses created for the parade .

The floats sponsored by businesses did not represent a religious institution, but some featured religious symbols in addition to a sign identifying their business.  Others used decorations such as a large globe or Statue of Liberty.  Like the use of American flags, the Statue of Liberty demonstrated patriotism towards America and showed the dual identity of many of the participants.  The floats sponsored by businesses played a role beyond celebrating Phagwah or the Caribbean nations from which members of the Richmond Hill community come.  They act as advertising for the sponsoring company, but they also demonstrate an example of success and entrepreneurship within the community.

Six floats represented businesses.  The Herman Singh Show, Kali & Dani Realty, NMCRA Connectors Realty, ClubTobago.com, North American Airlines, and Kaieture Restaurant & Bar all sponsored floats.  With the exception of North American Airlines (which flies from JFK to Georgetown, Guyana) and the Herman Singh Show, who is a local entrepreneur and radio personality, these are all locally owned businesses.  One of the benefits of the parade is that it acts as a showcase for the success of the Guyanese community in Queens.  When the parade first began in 1990, it was a single convertible with the rest of the participants marching on foot.  Since then the number of participants and floats has increased, signifying the increasing vibrancy of the community.

Presenting an image of success seems to be very important to the people I have met.  When I interviewed Pandit Ramlall he drove me to the Ozone Park subway stop, which is on Liberty Avenue.  As we drove down Liberty Avenue he noted with pride how the Guyanese had transformed the neighborhood and how much property values had risen since he first moved to New York.   If you walk down Liberty Avenue you will pass sari shops, grocery stores, and restaurants which display the fusion of Indian and Caribbean styles.  The shuttered storefronts which used to characterize the neighborhood only a few decades ago have vanished.[14]   The mayor of Schenectady, New York was so impressed with the Guyanese contributions to Queens that he started weekend bus trips from Richmond Hill to Schenectady and would frequent Richmond Hill restaurants to try and woo Guyanese families upstate.[15]  This financial success is a source of pride for many Guyanese with whom I’ve spoken.  Education is also extremely important because earning a degree is another form of accomplishment and also facilitates financial success.

 

Twice Migrants

In Steven Vertovec’s The Hindu Diaspora: Comparative Patterns, he describes the experience of Indo-Caribbeans in London, whom he labels “twice migrants”.  Although their experience is not identical to that of Guyanese in New York, there are many similarities: in both cases the Indo-Caribbeans migrated to an area with an already established South Asian Hindu population and were forced to negotiate the various aspects of their identity.  Vertovec says,

Indo-Caribbeans, whose very existence is still often overlooked, faced – and still face – a much more perplexing situation.  They had lived long as a community away from India, their regional and linguistic origins in the subcontinent were different and they had had some distinctive experiences as overseas settlers.  As a result, they felt they had no connection with, and indeed were often discouraged from participating in, the networks and institutions dominated by direct migrants from India.[16]

 Indian indentured laborers began moving to Guyana in the 1830’s, so Vertovec is correct in saying that Indo-Caribbeans have long lived as “a community away from India”.  However, none of the people I have talked to would say they had no connection to India.  The planners of the Phagwah parade are all practicing Hindus and they feel their Hindu faith strongly links them to India.  There was much debate about what other connections existed between Guyanese people and India, but at least among the parade organizers there seemed to be a consensus that to be Hindu implied some sort of connection to India.

The Guyanese Hindus with whom I have spoken do not always feel the same about their connection to India.   At the second meeting of the parade committee, there was a very heated discussion about which flags would be carried at the front of the parade.  This argument addressed questions of religious and national identity, and whether these identities are distinct.  Everyone at the planning meeting was Guyanese and Hindu, but clearly they had different relationships with India.  They all acknowledged that it is the birthplace of their religion and much of their culture, but non-Guyanese also recognize it as a nation, a political construct which is not connected to their being Hindu.  At previous parades the flags carried included the American flag, the Indian flag, and the Om flag.  Although the argument concluded with an agreement that this practice would not be changed, it provided very valuable insights into the issues of identity that are present in this community.[17]

Some members of the committee argued that the Indian flag is the symbol of a nation, a nation of which they are not and have never been residents.  Others felt that their culture is Indian and that is why it is important to carry the Indian flag.  Ironically no one was arguing that they should carry the Guyanese flag because then they would feel obligated to carry the flags of Trinidad and Surinam as well.  Pandit Ramlall, who has been an active participant in the parade planning since its inception, had the most intense opposition to carrying the flag, although Vedo Basit also responded very strongly.  Pandit Ramlall clearly felt India was a nation.  The nations to which he felt allegiance were the United States and Guyana.  He is a deeply religious man, so he wanted to carry the Om flag, which he felt represented Hinduism better than the Indian flag could.  Pandit Ramlall said, “I would die for Guyana”, and I would later learn he had been a freedom fighter in Guyana during the 1960s.  The people who opposed carrying the Indian flag advocated carrying only the American and Om flags.  This debate about flags and what they symbolized influenced much of my interview with Pandit Ramlall, which I conducted several weeks later, and helped shape the direction of my project.

Another idea about Hindu Indo-Caribbeans which Vertovec brings to light is that they are perceived as being especially religious by Hindus from India.  It is not the double migration which makes them especially religious, but the fact that they were separated from India while living in the Caribbean for an extended period of time.  In this respect their experience in Guyana and Trinidad mirrors the experience of Indian migrants in their first few decades in Britain or the United States.  Vertovec writes, “One Bengali man hoped his British-born descendants would be able to maintain traditions as well as the Indo-Caribbeans have done despite generations of separation from the subcontinent”.[18]  This sentiment was mirrored in several Indian-American news sources when they reported on the Guyanese community.  One Hinduism Today article said, “This community is even more diehard and staunch in its Hindu beliefs than Indians from the motherland”.[19]  When I interviewed Pandit Ramlall I asked him if he felt this characterization was true and he did.  He said that in Guyana they were so far away from India that they worked very hard to maintain the culture handed down from their parents, while in India people can become complacent.  This sentiment is often expressed by Indians in America who are more involved in their religion here than they would be in India.  For example, in Diana Eck’s book, A New Religious America, she describes the construction of a temple in suburban Boston.  She says,

The story of the Sri Lakshmi Temple is typical of many American Hindu communities.  In the 1970s new Indian immigrants to Boston, most of them professionals who had come during their student years, took jobs and settled in New England.  They all intended to return to India eventually.  They began to have children, and before long their children were in grade school.  By now, these young families were putting down deeper roots in America and beginning to look toward a future here.  They realized their children would have no cultural or religious identity as Hindus at all unless they themselves began to do something about it.[20]

While the original Indian migrants to Guyana were not students or professionals, they also left India in search of economic opportunity and planned to return.  They created temples in Guyana at the plantations where they worked to preserve their religious traditions.  Upon migrating to the United States in the 1960s and 70s, the Indo-Caribbeans once again were forced to create religious institutions to preserve their religious customs and ensure that their children would be Hindu.

Now that I have attended the parade, the argument about which flag to carry at the parade seems very strange.  On parade day Vedo carried an Om flag at the front of the procession and one of the people walking with the welcome banner had an American flag draped around his shoulders.  There were no Indian flags in sight.  On the floats there were many Guyanese and American flags, children were walking around wearing miniature Guyanese and Trinidadian flags tied around their head, and the NMCRA Connectors Realty/Western Union float was giving away bandanas which had the flag of Guyana or Trinidad featured along with the Western Union logo.  At the program following the parade an announcer shouted, “Is there anyone here from Guyana?” (followed by Trinidad, Jamaica, and Queens) to excite the crowd and encourage the spraying of baby powder into the air.  He did not say “Is there anyone here from India?”, and if he had I am not sure I would have heard much of a response.

At the parade there were two dominant themes: religious and national.  The national aspect of the parade was demonstrated by various signs of affection for Caribbean countries, especially Guyana and Trinidad.  This included flag waving and wearing patriotic colors.  The religious aspect was expressed through Phagwah play and the Om symbols and religious idols decorating the floats.  These themes were not kept distinct but went hand in hand during the parade.  Each float featured religious decorations as well as Caribbean flags.  Parade participants seemed to have no problem celebrating these two aspects of their life simultaneously.  Girls riding on the floats were dancing to Bollywood music while waving Guyanese flags, and the NMCRA Realty float, whose main attraction was the free bandanas featuring a Guyanese flag also had an Om symbol displayed on its side.  During the flag argument at one parade planning meeting, some people seemed to conflate Hinduism with India, while others felt that although India was the birthplace of Hinduism, it was primarily a nation.

This latter strain of thought seems to have won out at the parade.  This celebration was unmistakably Hindu without making any mention of India.  In Joanna Lessinger’s book From the Ganges to the Hudson, she documents the lives of several South Asians living in the New York Metropolitan area.  In the introduction she notes that she studied in Trinidad, but had a professor tell her if she wants to see the “real thing” she needs to go to India.  She continues, “It was only later that I developed a more sophisticated and dialectical view of immigration, and came to understand Indian immigrant culture, whether in Trinidad or the United States, is a vital, living force in its own right”.[21]    The Phagwah Parade confirmed Lessinger’s idea that Indian immigrant culture is vital even when twice removed from India.

On March 18, a Phagwah celebration was held at City Hall entitled “Hindu Festival of Colors”.  It featured speeches by City Council speaker Gifford Miller, Queens’s Councilman Leroy Comrie, and pandits from various mandirs.  One of the temples participating was the Ganesh Temple of Queens, whose membership is primarily Hindus of direct South Asian descent.  When I asked Dr. Narine whether many Guyanese people attended this temple, he replied “No” with a bit of a laugh.[22]  He said event organizers were attempting to bridge the gap between the Indian and Indo-Caribbean communities with cultural events and parades.  The event at City Hall had some success in this regard because it featured performances from mandirs whose members are of South Asian descent, but the parade showed no signs of an attempt.  I am not saying this as a judgment but simply stating that the people at the parade seemed to be celebrating the holiday and their Caribbean heritage but not making connections with people from India.  Even the event at City Hall was called by City Council Speaker Gifford Miller “an opportunity to recognize the achievements of the Guyanese community”.[23]  There seems to be debate among the Indo-Caribbean community about how necessary “bridge building” is, but from the people I have met there is agreement that a gap does exist.

In December the New York Times printed an article entitled “Guyanese Immigrants Cautious About Being Labeled,” which reported some of the tensions between the Indian and Indo-Caribbean people living in the New York area. [24]  One of the main questions the article raised was whether Indo-Caribbeans are perceived as Indian by Indian immigrants from South Asia.  When discussing the flag, one committee member said he doesn’t need anyone to tell him he’s Indian — he knows he is.  Others such as Pt. Ramlall and Vedo Basit did not seem concerned with being identified as Indian.  They were both extremely proud of their Guyanese heritage.  Everyone on the committee was Hindu, and agreed that their religious heritage was Indian; there was disagreement, however, on how this religious heritage connected them to India as a nation.

 

The Next Generation

A concern which I heard many people voice was that their children would abandon Hindu customs and adopt so called “American values”.  During the debate about which flag to carry, one of the advocates of carrying the Indian flag felt that associating with India was important for encouraging their children to maintain an Indian identity and to marry someone Indian.  When this man said “Indian” he clearly felt that the term applied to both people from India and the West Indies.   In the New York Times article “Guyanese Immigrants Cautious About Being Labeled”, the owner of a Liberty Avenue video store says that teenage Guyanese look “to an Indian culture based in India rather than Guyana for authentic Indian-ness” .[25]  When interviewing Pt. Ramlall, I asked him if he felt young Indo-Caribbeans identified more strongly with India than Guyana. He replied,

The second generation doesn’t know much about India or Guyana.  The environment which they live in—they inherit a lot from their parents like practicing Hinduism, eating Indian food, Indian traits and habits, and watching Indian film even though they don’t understand the language.[26]

 

Although his answer to the question seemed to be “no”, the examples he gave suggested otherwise.  It sounded like many of the basic elements which are usually defined as cultural (food, music, movies) are all things Pt. Ramlall attributes to India.  The other major element which falls under culture is religion and everyone agrees Hinduism is Indian.

Because of the nature of my project, I have spent the most time with adult (primarily male) members of the Guyanese Hindu community.  My two opportunities to interact with younger people were at the “Hindu Festival of Colors” event at City Hall and the parade itself.  The City Hall event seemed to reaffirm the notion that young people turned to India for culture.  Both performances by Indian and Indo-Caribbean mandirs featured classical Indian dance to Indian music, which as Pandit Ramlall noted was in a language unfamiliar to them.  At the parade the music on the floats was also Indian but the flags were from the Caribbean, and children were running up and down the streets proudly wearing the colors of the Guyanese flag.  After witnessing the parade I would disagree with the portrait painted in Joseph Berger’s New York Times article:  that Guyanese youth relate more powerfully to India than Guyana.  The children and teens I saw were showing an intense amount of pride for the Caribbean.  One possibility is that more religious youth relate more to India because of the Hindu influences in their life, while those who are not practicing Hindus do not feel the same ties.  This is just a theory, one I have not yet been able to test.

The parade is a wonderful example of an activity which can provide connections tyring young people to their religious and ethnic heritage.   The “Phagwah play” that occurs at the parade creates an event which appeals to young people.  In the film “Holi: A Festival of Colour”, the narrator says, “Holi turns the strict conventions of Indian society upside down, setting normal standards of behavior aside”.[27]  In Queens the parade allows for a similar abandon.  For one afternoon each year it is perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, to run up and down the street shouting while throwing water and dye, not only at one’s peers, but at strangers and adults as well.  When in Richmond Hill a few weeks after the parade, I asked a boy working in his father’s 99 cent store if he attended the parade.  He said he did and even though it was smaller than previous years he had a lot of fun and hoped it would be better next year.[28]  The parade has clearly become a tradition in this boy’s life.  In Joseph Sciorra’s essay on Catholic processions in Brooklyn, he writes, “The power of these annual festive celebrations arises from their ability to imbue urban space with shared memories, emotions, meaning, and to reinforce residents’ prevailing attachments to place”.[29]  The children and teens whom I witnessed participating in the Phagwah parade seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely and were in the process of creating memories which will likely remain with them for a long time.  It also seems likely that their enjoyment of the activity will someday encourage them to “play Phagwah” with their own children or bring them to a Phagwah parade.  Do all of the youth know they are impersonating an activity performed by Lord Krishna and Radha? No, of course not, but by participating they are still taking part in a religious ritual which connects them to both their Caribbean and Hindu heritage.

Powder

The most recognizable aspect of the Phagwah celebration was the powder which people smeared on one another and threw into the air.  Some children had liquid dye in soda bottles with spray tops but the majority of participants were using powder.  The traditional powder is called gulal, and many people were using this, especially to smear on people’s faces.  Baby powder was also popular, especially to spray into the air, because it is cheap and sold at the many 99 cent stores on Liberty Avenue.  The colors signify spring and the unity of all people, a theme which the parade organizers promote as very important.  There are several problems with the dye and powders used.  First, they stain.  Police officers complained that their uniforms and vehicles were stained at past parades.  The Bond Float Company, which traditionally supplies vehicles to pull the floats, refused this year because the powder had stained their trucks in previous years.  This change meant the mandirs and businesses got a $100 discount on the float rental, but they had to provide their own vehicle to tow the float.

Once the parade turns from Liberty Avenue it moves along 123^rd Street, which is in a residential neighborhood where not all of the residents participate in the celebration.  Some of them were complaining the powder stained their fences, a charge which committee members deny.  After the anthrax scare in 2001 powder raised more serious concerns.  During the 2002 parade powder was banned and people were encouraged to use liquid dye instead.

This year powder and liquid dye were confiscated at the beginning of the parade route and people were encouraged to “play Phagwah” only once the parade arrived in Smoky Oval Park.  During the parade committee meetings the committee members had resolved that they would use powder.  Vedo said, “It is part of our culture; we can’t change it”.[30]  One suggestion by the community board was to use confetti instead, but it was not well received.  The organizers did pass this set of rules which were printed on the flyer that was distributed throughout Queens:

To Ensure a Safe, Orderly & Meaningful Parade, Please Obey The Following Rules:

ONLY PROFESSIONAL FLOATS, ONLY RELIGIOUS/PHAGWAH SONGS, NO SUPER SOAKERS, DO NOT THROW POWDER FROM THE FLOATS, NO ALCOHOL ALLOWED, NO SELLING OF ANY PRODUCT ON PARADE ROUTE OR AROUND PARK.

 

These rules seemed to be followed during the parade.  I only witnessed two boys with squirt guns and a parade marshal quickly told them to put them away or else they would be confiscated.  The parade marshals were another addition this year to help maintain order.  Each mandir sponsoring a float provided four people to be trained as marshals by the police department to enforce the rules.  Nonetheless, I was still surprised to see powder confiscated.   During the meetings it sounded like the committee and the city had reached an agreement that powder could be used, but participants would not throw it on police officers or from the floats.  When I asked Dr. Narine why the powder was being confiscated, he did not seem concerned and said that “Phagwah play” was restricted to the park.  It is important to note that Dr. Narine is running for City Council this fall so his words are often carefully chosen.

Politics

The 2000 census identified 24,662 people living in Richmond Hill who had been born in Guyana.[31]  The neighborhood houses fifty temples, and the dozens of shops along Liberty Avenue attest to the Guyanese presence.[32]  Despite this apparent strength in the community, members of the parade committee would often allude to their lack of political power.  Once when discussing the issue of powder, someone remarked that if more Guyanese went to the community board meetings they would be able to fight the neighbors.  During one planning meeting a member very causally brought up a threatening letter he had received from someone about the parade.  The anonymous author objected to the characterization of Richmond Hill as a Guyanese neighborhood or “Little Guyana” because there are many other ethnicities represented.  The person who had received the letter dismissed it, saying, “They refuse to accept the changing face of the community”.[33]  In his essay on Brooklyn processions Joseph Sciorra remarks, “Ceremonial display is a dramatic way of delineating the edges of community domain for urban residents who often disagree about the precise location of ‘neighborhood’ borders”.[34]  The Phagwah parade begins at 133^rd Street and proceeds down Liberty Avenue, eventually terminating in Smoky Oval Park.  The Guyanese are therefore symbolically marking (and literally marking with the dye) this area as their portion of the neighborhood.

Two members of the Guyanese community are running for office this year in City Council district twenty-eight, where Richmond Hill is located, to change the lack of Guyanese representation in city politics.  One is Albert Baldeo, a local lawyer, and the other is Dr. Dhanpaul Narine, the publicity director for the parade.  They are challenging the incumbent Allan Jennings and Thomas White, who previously held the seat but could not run again due to term limits.[35]  The Phagwah Parade has definitely developed a political component because it is a chance for the Guyanese community to express their heritage and display their presence to the city.   The parade organizers this year received a request from Mr. Baldeo to sponsor a float specifically endorsing his campaign.  They refused the request and also would not allow his law firm to sponsor a float because they believed he would use this float to promote his candidacy.  There was a rule that no political banners would be allowed on any of the floats and that only elected representatives would be able to speak at the ceremony in Smoky Oval Park after the parade.  These rules are complicated by the fact that Dr. Narine, the master of ceremonies of the post-parade festivities, is one of Mr. Baldeo’s opponents.  I did not hear him use this platform to promote his campaign, but at the City Hall celebration at which he also spoke he did use the opportunity to promote his candidacy.

The parade also creates an opportunity for politicians currently in power to interact with the Guyanese community.  On the morning of the parade Assembly Member Brian McLaughlin and his representatives were at Sybil’s restaurant as the parade organizers were meeting, and used the opportunity to take pictures with the pandits and meet members of the Guyanese community.  I met one of Assemblyman McLaughlin’s representatives and told him about my project.  He asked me to send him my completed report because “We’re trying to learn about the community”.[36]  It seems that like the non-Guyanese members of the Richmond Hill community, the local representatives have not fully adjusted to the Guyanese presence in Richmond Hill.  The politicians who attended the parade and the City Hall celebration did not appear merely to be angling for votes, but showed actual interest in understanding this relatively new community and making them feel welcome in the city.

Writing about multi-ethnic communities in Queens, anthropologist Roger Sanjek wrote, “Public ceremonial events are parapolitical means to voice community needs by making visible voting blocs and reinforcing the ties that bind elected officials to their constituents.  Public events are not simply tangential to local politics.  They are local politics”.[37]  The Phagwah Parade was an example of city politics in action.  Before it began, Assemblyman McLaughlin was interacting with the people he represents, showing his support for their efforts and trying to garner their support for the next election.  The celebration after the parade featured a speech by Freddy Ferrer, a mayoral candidate.  By refusing to allow Albert Baldeo to participate in the parade while allowing his opponent to be the master of ceremonies of the post-parade festivities, the parade committee had in effect endorsed a candidate and made an effort to move beyond the status quo.

 

Conclusion

The Phagwah Parade serves several functions for the Indo-Caribbean community in Queens.  On the most basic level it provides an opportunity to celebrate the Hindu holiday of Phagwah in a manner similar to the festivities in Guyana and Trinidad.  But parades are not just self-reflexive events.  They memorialize and re-enact, but they also display.  Because it is a parade rather than a celebration in a park, the Phagwah parade allows people who do not participate in “playing Phagwah” to be exposed to the festivities.  As I walked the parade route I saw many non-Caribbean families standing in their doorways watching the parade pass their homes.  Although these people are not participants in the sense that they march along the parade route or smear powder on one another’s faces, by watching the parade they do participate as recipients of the images the Caribbean community is projecting.

A parade also incorporates elements of national pride more easily than other celebrations because the floats provide a canvas for decorations in the national colors of Guyana and Trinidad and an ideal place to hang a flag.  The celebration of Caribbean nations seemed to play almost as important a role as the religious festivities.  Because of the public nature of a parade, it also encourages politicians to attend.  This is not simply to garner votes; rather, “outsider” politicians at the parade and the Phagwah Celebration at City Hall genuinely seemed interested in making this relatively new ethnic group feel at home in the city.

The parade is a fun event which people look forward to each year.  For parents concerned about their children losing touch with their Hindu and Caribbean roots, the parade provides an ideal opportunity to expose the second generation, who may have never been to Guyana or Trinidad, to a Caribbean tradition in a way that is enjoyable and entertaining.  During the parade planning process the question of identity was raised repeatedly, especially in relation to India, and often these discussions produced no clear answers.  The parade itself, however, seemed to succeed in presenting an integrated identity for its participants—as Hindu Caribbean Americans.  The decorations on the floats demonstrated patriotism towards the United States, Guyana and Trinidad and the Om symbol and Hindu gods were prevalent.  Indian culture was present in the clothing and the music, but the absence of Indian flags demonstrated the vitality of Hinduism in the Diaspora, separate from its country of origin.

 

---

[37] Rojer Sanjek, “The Organization of Festivals and Ceremonies Among Immigrants in Queens, New York,” in To Make the World Safe for Diversity: Towards an Understanding of Multi-Cultural Societies, ed. Ake Daun (Helsingborg, Sweden: Schmidts Boktryckere, 1992), quoted in Sciora, “We Go Where the Italians Live”, 330.