The Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) calls on citizens to celebrate Holi as it is a festival which celebrates life and hope as a focus for national unity.
The group extends Phagwah greetings to all Guyanese especially Hindus who follow the teachings of Sanatan Dharma. It said, in a press release, that Phagwah or Holi is a festival of Bharat (India) that has its roots in antiquity and celebrates the coming of a new spring season and the drawing of a new year. The exuberance of this season reflects the collective hope of the people for progress and prosperity and the betterment of their lives. The group said Hindus brought Holi to British Guiana when they came here as indentured labourers 167 years ago. It “was sustained by the majority of the approximately 239 000 Bharatiyas who arrived on these shores between 1838 and 1917.”