Dear Editor,
The Diwali celebration is expected to be at its peak in NY this weekend among the large Guyanese community spread out across Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. Celebrations were held all over the city last week with a brilliant parade last Sunday evening on Liberty Avenue and spiritual concerts at various mandirs. The parade attracted thousands.
Although not a holiday in NY, Diwali is given official city recognition with the suspension of alternate parking rules and attendance excused for NYC public school students and staff. Getting parking rules suspension is a way for Hindus to show they’ve ‘made it’ in NY, which has the highest concentration of Hindus from almost every country, including the Caribbean. So it is apt that the city granted them this honourable recognition in 2006 after many years of lobbying politicians, and petitions to pressure the city council to act. The holiday allows Hindus to stay in their homes this Friday to offer prayers, light deyas, exchange gifts and share a holiday meal without having to worry about a traffic ticket.
Guyanese eagerly anticipate the festival and mainstream groceries offer a full line of Diwali related items. Several stationery stores sell Diwali cards, including a few from the famous Hallmark distributor. Homes are decorated. West Indian stores are packed with Diwali related paraphernalia like deyas, wick, ghee, incense, etc. People purchase new traditional attire as is the custom for the occasion. It is a time for giving and Hindus use the occasion to give generously to their favourite charities as well as to send money and gifts to loved ones back home.
The ethnic media have promoted the festival. Many of the Guyanese radio and television programmes aired Diwali songs last weekend and all this week. WICR station aired hours of Diwali music daily and will devote Friday to all Diwali-related songs. And all of the ethnic weekly newspapers have carried messages and greetings from businesses. Politicians sent out Diwali greetings to Hindus. President Obama, members of Congress, governors, mayors, city council of NY, and other government bodies issued a Diwali proclamation. The White House hosts a Diwali feast.
In neighbourhoods where Guyanese predominate, you know it is Diwali time. The exterior of houses are decorated with lights and the sidewalks are swept clean. Guyanese attach special importance to the Diwali festival which is comparable to Thanksgiving or Christmas or the Jewish Hanukah. Diwali is usually celebrated with gusto at the mandirs and all of them have scheduled a celebration this Friday evening. Huge multi-coloured, multi-shaped deyas and other paraphernalia decorate the temples. Sweet smelling incense and perfume wafted in the air at their concerts last weekend, and there were packed congregations at the mandirs last Sunday. Devotees embraced friends and relatives and exchanged greetings of ‘Shubh Diwali.’
The celebration extends into Saturday when Pandit Oumadatt and his Mahatma Gandhi Society host a dinner and Diwali lighting ceremony at 196th St, near Jamaica Ave in the heart of Queens Village where thousands of Guyanese are settled. Shubh Diwali!
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
