The early Guyanese tadjah festival

The now dormant tadjah festival of Guyana had its origins in the Islamic religion of the Indian Shia Muslims who arrived as indentured workers in British Guiana almost two centuries ago which later came to include non-Muslims.

Ironically, it was this national inclusion,to the disapproval of colonial authorities, whichwould lead to the festival becoming extinct on the local religious calendar today.

The history of the tadjah

The Guyanese tadjah was a procession of mourners marking the anniversary of the assassination of Hussain, who was the grandson of the Prophet Muhammed.

The first month of the Islamic New Year, Muharram, is one of the four sacred months in Islam. The tenth day of Muharram is the day of Ashura, which is considered to be a very important day in the Islamic calendar.

The day is internationally observed to commemorate the assassination of Hazrat Imam Hussain Ali and his supporters at the battle of Karbala.

When Hussain refused to swear allegiance to Yazid, the second Umayyad Caliph, he and his supporters were brutally massacred while traveling from Madina to Kufa.

While some Muslims regard Muharram as the month of mourning, for others it is commemorating the Battle of Karbala.

Muharram, meaning forbidden, is so called because it is considered unlawful to fight during this month.

The Times of India notes that the word ‘Muharram’ is derived from the word ‘haram’, meaning sinful.

In India as well as other Muslim territories, tazia (tadjah) processions often mark the occasion of Muharram.

Replicas

According to “Islam, Globalization and Postmodernity” (edited by Akbar S. Ahmed, Hastings Donnan), Muharram rituals were referred to as “Hosay” or “Hosse” (a derivative of “Husain”) in Trinidad to refer to Husain’s tomb replica as well as the event.

Older Trinidadian Shia Muslims used the Arabic word  taziyah, meaning “mourning”; “condolence” to describe the mausoleum or tomb replica.

Guyanese (and some Trinidadian) indentured immigrants used the “patois” term tadjah (variously: tajah, tadjieh, tazia, tazzia) to describe the commemorations.

In the book “Islamic Art in the 19th Century: Tradition, Innovation, And Eclecticism”, edited by Doris Behrens-Abouseif and Stephen Vernoit, tazia means a model of the tomb of Imam Hussein.

The tazia resulted from the difficulties worshippers had in making the trip to Imam Hussein’s shrine, which led to replicas of the tomb being constructed by those too far away to access the site.

Local historian Lloyd Kandasammy writes that the festival was staged “to commemorate the martyrdom of Hassan and Hussein, the two sons of Ali and the prophet’s daughter, Fatthima, who were persecuted and murdered by [the] Caliph.”

Observed in what was then British Guiana, the tadjah would depict “a miniature mosque, made of light and pliable materials: the frameworks of slight bamboo were ‘intricately connected wickerwork style and neatly covered with folded, multi-coloured tinsel paper ornamented with gold and silver trimmings,’ The height of the tazzia varied from twenty to fifty feet,” he says. “Within the Tazzia were two small coffins representing the remains of Hussein and Hassan.”

The local processions

In pre-independent Guyana, the tadjah was taken in a procession along the road while its participants loudly chanted the names of the two martyrs.

The festival also included dance and displays, including re-enactments of the battle and the fall of the brothers, as well as performances from costumed dancers.

Peter Halder, in his article on guyanathenandnow website, states that in British Guiana the festival was eventually assumed by Hindus, to the disapproval of the Muslims.

Reflecting on the occasion, Kandasammy writes, “The warlike demonstrations, which followed the throwing of the Tazzia into the water, soon led to violent attacks against non-Indian groups.

In 1867, two revellers were killed and several others were seriously injured on the East Bank of Demerara when rival processions clashed.

In the 1890s Durguh Pujah, a Hindu celebration, and Muharram came to be celebrated at the same time. Violence erupted as each procession crossed paths.

There was a discernible decline in the tadjah festivals during the 1880s. Between 1880 and 1890 only Plantation Non Pariel in 1882 staged a tazzia festival.

In 1880 a report in the Argosy newspaper stated “although Indian participation was dwindling, the festivals might remain a local institution owing to the Creoles.”

On April 19, 1873, the first all-Creole Tadjah festival at Plantation Sparta was reported in great detail by the Royal Gazette.

In that same year three other festivals were staged at Sisters Village, Daniels Town and Plantation Leonora.

The Royal Gazette reported that the celebration at Sisters Village resembled a “masquerade band as the revellers marched with martial thread and about one hundred women brought up the rear contorting themselves to the eternal cake walk.”

Africans were not the only participants, but Chinese and Portuguese were also integrally involved as they were contracted from time to time to construct the ornately designed tadjahs for the festivals.

In later years the festival continued to dwindle and became heavily commercialised, with little regard for its religious significance. Prizes were awarded by managers of estates for the most colourful and decorative tadjahs in a bid to resuscitate the declining festival.

Eventually, the promotion of the annual celebration was encouraged by the owners of rum shops, which led many to believe that the festivities had degenerated into mere drunken revelry and could no longer be regarded as a religious affair.

On January 19, 1871 the colonial government implemented a series of strict regulations.

The continued threat to the public as a result of the “high” incidence of violence was cited as the main cause for the introduction of this legislation to ensure that “the business of the Tazzia was conducted in an orderly way.”

The regulations also prohibited Tadjah processions from entering ‘the precincts of the city of Georgetown and New Amsterdam’

Once elaborately celebrated on every estate in British Guiana, the tadjah festival dwindled. The last procession was held in 1917.”