“One Guyana” motto resonates at Holi rangoli competition

The Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry on Thursday hosted a rangoli competition in keeping with the Holi celebrations, and it reverberated a message of “One Guyana”.
Teams from different organisations and agencies turned up along Main Street, where a selection of designs and colours was displayed to represent not just the festival of colours, but the diversity of the Guyanese culture.
Cavin Roberts from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) shared that their message is one that calls for unity among Guyanese, breaking all barriers which contribute negatively to society.
“Our group is called Springs of Unity. That is the message we want to send to all Guyana, that we’re here to share love as one unified Guyana. In Guyana, we know we have issues like racism and so on. We want to break those barriers today, and we want to send that message of peace and harmony. That’s actually why we incorporated the flag’s colours,” Roberts told Guyana Times.
Tiffany Boodhoo of the Guyana Bureau of Statistics said they chose to highlight the beauty of Guyana’s flora and fauna through the use of peacocks and flower motifs.
“We chose to do peacocks embedded in the design. The significance is that the peacocks represent beauty, just to show a little bit of Guyana’s beauty. We know our country is very beautiful. It’s on the world map in terms of tourism, so we know there’s so much nature, rich forests and so on. We planned on capturing some of that in our piece,” she said.
She lauded the initiative as a medium of fostering cohesion and kinship among each other, especially since Guyana is celebrating the festival after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
“Doing this with my coworkers unified us, and we had a lot of fun. I must say thanks to the Ministry for allowing us this opportunity. We’re having so much fun, and, of course, have to return next year. It’s a great experience in keeping with the One Guyana theme. It’s a chance for us to interact with people. COVID has kept us in for so long. It’s something very refreshing for us,” the Bureau of Statistics employee underscored.
Representing the Amerindian Affairs Ministry, Adel Roberts and his team created a design that incorporated several features and national symbols of Guyana. According to him, such festivals connote the wholesome Guyanese culture of participating in all celebrations.
“We have a design that would depict not only this festive season, but Guyana itself. We did a design of the Guyana map with the national bird as well, the national headdress. The thing about Guyanese culture is that we all intermingle with each other’s culture. Whenever there’s a season that represents the six ethnic groups, we’re all there to support each other. It’s also fun and excitement to be together,” Roberts told this publication.
Additionally, Doneeta Ramlakhan from the Guyana Energy Agency shared, “We’re doing a peacock, depicting peace and prosperity. Knowing Guyanese, it doesn’t matter what holiday it is, Guyanese always come together and come as one in unity.”
From the Grove-Diamond Youths in Development, the Guyana flag was intertwined with peacocks, a combination of patriotism and the Indian culture. Bibi Yassin highlighted, “Our design, we would have incorporated the Guyana flag. It is in keeping with the “One Guyana” (theme). We have the peacock. In Hinduism, it is symbolic of royalty and rejuvenation, so it’s a time where people come together.”