When holidays
happen in Guyana there seem to be a bunch of them all around the same time so
that you don’t have a “normal” week for several weeks. This past Friday was
Phagwah. This is a day of celebration where observers wear white clothing and
throw harmless colored water and powder at each other. Phagwah is a celebration
of the triumph of good over evil. It can be traced back to Hindu lore of the
Kind Hiranyakasyapu who attempted to kill his son, Prince Prahlad. The boy was
saved on each of attempt by Lord Vishnu’s blessings. The King’s sister, Holika,
eventually tried to kill the prince as well by leading him into a fire.
According to the lore, Holika was immune to fire, but she perished to ashes and
the prince came out alive. I am pretty sure that the Color Runs that are so
popular back home are fashioned after the Hindu Phagwah celebration.
Friday morning I
awoke to the sounds of drums. Dan and I both decided to go exploring to find
them. We finally found the drums at our doctor’s house just down the block from
where we live. As we stood there a guy came up to me and dumped a large bucket
of really cold water on me. He came back and did it to Dan, and then came back
a third time and dumped more on me. It was so cold! Some kids were playing in a
pool and started shooting us with water guns. After the drummers decided they
were done Dan and I decided to head back to the house so we could change and
get ready for what was ahead.
A few weeks back
my younger guitar class had a little ice party as a reward for all the hard
work they had been doing. At one point they all huddled and started whispering
but wouldn’t let Dan and I know what was happening. We decided they were trying
to plan something on us so we decided to do the same. The last day of class
before Phagwah we invited the guitar class to join us at 11:00 am so that they
could show us how to play Phagwah. Little did they know that Dan and I had gone
on a mission earlier that morning to buy water guns, dye, sparkle (glitter), and
powder. We were planning an ambush.
Some of the kids
came and we got them before they realized what was happening. That was fun. We
then proceeded to get everyone soaked all before noon. After noon we switched
to powders and glitter. It was kind of crazy. It was really fun to be able to
spend time with some of our students having fun, and they got to see a
different side of the teachers than ever before.
We called it a day
around 2:00. The teachers all went home to shower so we wouldn’t make huge
messes all over the house. Our shower turned purple and sparkly. That is always
fun when it is my week to clean the bathroom. Our white shirts now look sweet
and we are excited to keep them as awesome reminders of our Phagwah celebration
in Guyana.
I think we are
done with holidays now until Holy Week. If we are that will be a welcome
change. It will be nice to have a normal week of classes once again. Just a few
short weeks until Eric is here with us again and we all head to Suriname for a
week. I am looking forward to that! Until next time, have a great rest of your
week and enjoy the sunshine and warmth!
Dan meeting one of our neighbors that we have not met before.
They are friends, I swear!
We had a wide range of water guns to choose from.
Claire and I playing with powder
The brother of one of my guitar students
Dan, you have a little something on your face.
One of my students, Daniel
The teachers and our neighbor
Some of the group that played Phagwah
Oh Dan...
Claire looks pretty clean
Dan had so much fun...
He couldn't quite make it up the stairs!
I don't think I needed to shower...I look perfectly normal!
Our shirts after playing Phagwah
Take out the ponytails I had in while playing Phagwah and this is what my hair looked like. You know, I kind of like that coloring....
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