This month, many in South Florida’s Indo-Caribbean community celebrated Phagwah. Phagwah or Holi, as it is commonly called, is an annual Hindu Festival of Colors commemorating the arrival of Spring.
This festival was brought to places like Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, and Jamaica by East Indians who first came to the Caribbean almost 200 years ago. The celebration includes throwing colored water and powders on one another, with each color carrying a special meaning. Red, for example, symbolizes love and fertility, and green symbolizes new beginnings.
This year the festival was officially on March 8, but celebrations have been held throughout the month of March. According to Indo-Caribbean community member Hazel Maragh, who is a prominent marketing and community consultant for GraceKennedy Remittance Services,
“The Indo-Caribbean community in South Florida actually had six Pagwah events that were put on by the different Hindu temples.”
Two of those South Florida-based Phagwah events included one on March 12 called Holi in the Park, which was held in Loxahatchee Grove by the Guyanese and Palm Beach Hindu communities. Then, on March 18 in Cooper City, the Jamaican Indo-Caribbean community, with Rohan Tolan and Apache Promotions as hosts, held Phagwah 2023.
“We celebrated Phagwah when we were young growing up in Jamaica,” Maragh explains. “When we migrated to the United States we kept the tradition alive, and we’ve been doing it for 25 years. It brings family and friends together, but we also collect donations to help take care of less fortunate persons in our community.”
Maragh says that, due to the pandemic, the festival was forced to break for three years, but the community is elated to return to the joyous annual tradition. “We were so happy to do it again,” she beams.
In the Caribbean, Phagwah is typically observed after Carnival.
