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Monday, June 2, 2025

Divali tradition brings villagers, strangers together

by

Chester Sambrano
2136 days ago
20190802

For many in T&T, Di­vali, a Hin­du fes­ti­val, is a na­tion­al cel­e­bra­tion that comes just once a year, but for most peo­ple of Fe­lic­i­ty it is a way of life.

69-year-old Boodram Ma­hadeo was born in Fe­lic­i­ty and he and his fam­i­ly live about a two-minute walk from the cre­ma­tion site in the area.

He said every year, as a tra­di­tion, they take part in the Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions.

"This fes­ti­val is very big be­cause they put lights on the whole street, shoot bam­boo, tie flags. We light up from here (their home) to the whole riv­er with flam­beau."

But, for 35-year-old Pierre Road res­i­dent Satesh Ram­nar­ine, Di­vali means much more than par­tic­i­pa­tion, it is an ex­pe­ri­ence, a way of life. It is what he has known since birth.

"Well, ac­tu­al­ly, it is part of a script where every­body comes to­geth­er, light over dark­ness. A lot of com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the vil­lage peo­ple, on the whole every­one comes to­geth­er."

The miles of bam­boo dec­o­ra­tions, lights, mu­sic and not to men­tion the food at­tract thou­sands of peo­ple to Fe­lic­i­ty on Di­vali night. Tourism is al­so boost­ed as for­eign­ers flock to the area to see the beau­ty.

"On Di­vali night it­self the guys who take part in Ram­leela (a dra­mat­ic re-en­act­ment of the Ra­mayana that takes place for ten days) they dress in their cos­tumes and do a por­tray­al on the road, part of the play. That has the crowd go­ing," Ram­nar­ine said.

For Ram­nar­ine and many oth­ers like him in the area, these tra­di­tions were hand­ed down. He learned from his fa­ther, Anirudh Ram­nar­ine.

"Di­vali and Ram­leela is a life-sus­tain­ing tra­di­tion for these peo­ple down here. From the old heads to the new heads, the young gen­er­a­tion, the old gen­er­a­tion and it is a con­tin­u­ous thing," Anirudh said.

One of the key peo­ple who help put every­thing to­geth­er is Ganesh Ra­goo­nanan, he is in­volved in al­most every group that de­vel­ops and pro­motes Hin­du cul­ture in Fe­lic­i­ty.

"Fe­lic­i­ty is the mec­ca of the fes­ti­val of Di­vali, it is like you are go­ing to In­dia," Ra­goo­nanan said.

He said the dec­o­ra­tions along Ca­can­dee Road are left up for an en­tire week so the peo­ple who didn't get to see it on Di­vali night can get a chance to do so.

But Di­vali isn't the on­ly fes­ti­val cel­e­brat­ed in Fe­lic­i­ty—Ram­leela, the Ganesh Ut­sav fes­ti­val, and Phag­wa are al­so ma­jor events held there as well. The area heav­i­ly pro­motes chow­tal (a form of Hin­du folk­song) singing. He said the group has al­so toured lo­cal­ly and re­gion­al­ly. Now, he and oth­ers are teach­ing the pupils of the Fe­lic­i­ty Hin­du school to sing chow­tal.

Ra­goo­nanan's hope for Fe­lic­i­ty is that the cul­tur­al tra­di­tions can live on for many more years to come.


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