Dear Editor,
The festival of Diwali has been celebrated for ages and grows in attraction year by year. This year the festival is being celebrated on November 13. This is an occasion for the young and the old, men and women, rich and poor - for everyone irrespective of their religious and economic background. The festival is celebrated throughout the world to ward off darkness and welcome light into our lives.
Diwali today has become an international festival inculcating a strong sense of belonging in all. For Hindus, Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama, along with Sita and Lakshmana, after their 14-year exile, and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. While Diwali is an occasion to rejoice and pray to the Goddess Lakshmi for prosperity and success, it is also a time for reflection and to remember those who are less fortunate and renew our commitment to help them.
The Indian community in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and indeed Jamaica, has enjoyed great success through its own efforts and perseverance. Unfortunately, in Jamaica successive governments are yet to acknowledge fully minority religious groups.
However, we see recognition of the Maroons whom Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has called an "inspiration" - and rightly so. Her attendance at the recent maroon conference in Accompong, St Elizabeth, demonstrates how the government has increasingly come not merely to tolerate difference, but to appreciate and welcome it. Indeed, it is the diversity of faiths, customs, history, ethnicity and talents that has given this country its cultural richness and creativity.
I urge the government to acknowledge fully and welcome all minority religious groups.
On Diwali day, I shall sit and reflect on parts of our history, how it must have been for our foreparents to have laboured in the plantations for the enrichment of others, yet hiding in secrecy under the cover of darkness seeking to practise their religious and cultural beliefs, lest their identity be lost. I would like to convey my best wishes to Hindus across the Caribbean and indeed the world.
Andrew King
abking020@gmail.com
Acknowledge fully all religious groups
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The festival of Diwali has been celebrated for ages and grows in attraction year by year. This year the festival is being celebrated on November 13. This is an occasion for the young and the old, men and women, rich and poor - for everyone irrespective of their religious and economic background. The festival is celebrated throughout the world to ward off darkness and welcome light into our lives.
Diwali today has become an international festival inculcating a strong sense of belonging in all. For Hindus, Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama, along with Sita and Lakshmana, after their 14-year exile, and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. While Diwali is an occasion to rejoice and pray to the Goddess Lakshmi for prosperity and success, it is also a time for reflection and to remember those who are less fortunate and renew our commitment to help them.
The Indian community in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and indeed Jamaica, has enjoyed great success through its own efforts and perseverance. Unfortunately, in Jamaica successive governments are yet to acknowledge fully minority religious groups.
However, we see recognition of the Maroons whom Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has called an "inspiration" - and rightly so. Her attendance at the recent maroon conference in Accompong, St Elizabeth, demonstrates how the government has increasingly come not merely to tolerate difference, but to appreciate and welcome it. Indeed, it is the diversity of faiths, customs, history, ethnicity and talents that has given this country its cultural richness and creativity.
I urge the government to acknowledge fully and welcome all minority religious groups.
On Diwali day, I shall sit and reflect on parts of our history, how it must have been for our foreparents to have laboured in the plantations for the enrichment of others, yet hiding in secrecy under the cover of darkness seeking to practise their religious and cultural beliefs, lest their identity be lost. I would like to convey my best wishes to Hindus across the Caribbean and indeed the world.
Andrew King
abking020@gmail.com
Acknowledge fully all religious groups
-->