Menoculayshunal; Further Festivals

Sri Ganesh Chaturthi 2012

Keeping a nice flow, some excellent comments arrived in response to last week's post. I would like to address three in particular, as they play a part in the wider narrative and, I think, permit a nice segue into the festival of the moment.

First, Gail remarked upon the availability of festivals in the UK, and I would suggest this might also apply to OZ and the USA. Where the preponderance of celebration is governed by the Christian faith, festivals are relatively few, with three dominating - Christmas, Easter and Harvest. It would not be unfair to say that, on the whole, these are not necessarily celebrated in the street (unless you count Santa on sleigh going to the local shopping mall - or carol singers) or with large, participative crowds. Yes, we now have big German Markets to draw crowds... but there's a clue in the name there... Beyond that, the 'festivals' tend not to have too long a tradition, being mainly of the Woodstock and Burning Man sort of thing. 

Mark at The Bike Shed hinted that even attending festivals when 'touring' would not necessarily permit entry to cultural understanding. (NB, those links jump straight to the comments.) "Tigger" follows this up, agreeing with him, but then adding the point that how immersed one is in a festival will make a difference - but, as I had mentioned in the post itself, this again depended upon the willingness of the participant to become involved. Harking back to Gail's comment, anyone coming to Scotland would be faced with simply going to a pub ceilidh or, if the equivalent of crowds and noise that might be found in India was desired, the choices are limited to things such as TRNSMT. I know few of my readers who'd seek to 'immerse' themselves in that particular part of the culture, and to think it representative of Scottish culture would be an error indeed!

No, the west really does not have anything properly equating to the community-encompassing quality that is to be found in India. This is where I pick up Mark's comment again. What needs to be realised is that 'everyday life' in that amazing country absolutely includes festivals. His point about the mundanity of living being the strongest indicator of culture is valid... but for the majority of Indians, living their faith in everyday life is a reality. Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism require of their adherents a sense of service to the community. The majority live by that. (Forget the news headlines. We are not going to go into the whys and wherefores of dogmas in this particular forum.) Their festivals are not restricted to those only of that faith, and neither are they used as 'recruiting' markets for conversion. 

Sanatana Dharma (commonly referred to as Hinduism) is actually a way of life. The 'religion' part comes about from the Vedic rituals and devotion to the many faces of "That", which is so numinous a concept, the low human brain requires a focal point. Even the rebellious ones who do not attend pujas and havans and reject 'God' hold within them the essence of Dharma - it is in the blood. (The nearest equivalent to this experience in the west is Judaism.)

So perhaps I ought to qualify my statement that the way to deepen one's connection to culture is through festivals, by saying "to Indian culture." There are others, and I have experienced such connections in Nigeria (through Juju) and in Australia (through Corroboree), but let's stick to the country of choice in these posts. I am grateful to all commenters - it delights me that you are sufficiently engaged to bring up such things!

Having experienced rather tame festivals until arriving at Sandeepany, jumping right in at the deep end with Onam was truly immersive. Barely a week later, it was Ganesh Chaturthi - the celebration of the Remover of Obstacles. The photos shared above are from the same festival a year later. As with all these Utsavas, the dates are movable according to the moon. There is no question in my mind that having these festivals so soon in our settlement at Sandeepany and so close together truly helped with the transition. Still more so, as Navratri followed by the end of our second month. (In fact, there was a succession of festivals occurring in a short span of time, which I covered to some degree in the "Menoctoberish" posts.) In 2012, also, we were able to fully celebrate Krishna Janmashtami. This festival is perhaps closest to Christmas in style and intent; a gathering of family, feasting and greeting the baby/child Sri Krishna again.

It was a proper holiday, in that we didn't have to attend any classes at all, including the early morning chanting in the mandir. This was because the night before we had been at the mandir rocking the cradle of the baby Krishna after a big ceremony. Then there was a mid-morn puja. Going down from the mandir before lunch, came the fun and games. Sri Krishna was known as mischief when a wee lad. He liked to go into folks' houses and raid the butter churn! This is represented in some games. First, a pot filled with coloured water and petals. Here, the girls and boys take dandas (cane sticks) to beat the pot. There are also sweets inside but not many - the luck is to try and stay dry and get a sweet! (Yes, reminiscent of piñata... but the word itself arises from the Italian for 'clay pot', and despite the suggestion of that tradition originating in China, one must wonder...) Following all that laughter and mess, we entered Annakshetra for our festive meal. This was more leisurely than usual, and the mauna (silence) rule was not strictly applied. 

After lunch, there was more fun to be had. Now we had to call the teenage Krishna to play his flute for us and dance with the gopikas (female cowherds). One of the boys was picked to play the part, and the others attended him with bathing, dressing and worship. Each of the young ladies from the office and the brahmacharinis were invited to dance with him. Lots of laughter and shy smiles were on display!

Ashok played his part well - although himself quite shy. It is considered a great honour to have been elected by one's peers for this part. They would all have gathered their resources to provide the fresh new clothes and ornaments (which would be his to keep if he chose - though I happen to know that Ashok donated his to the ashram lockers for use on murtis and other plays).

After an hour of this sport, the boys teased Krishna and enticed him to engage yet again in raiding the butter churns. This is represented by the raising of a kumbha (pot) up high and getting the main guy to climb the human mountain to reach it... and of course, it had a load of "butter" (actually curd - natural yoghurt) inside to cover them in milky white and causing them to lick their fingers like the cheeky young Krishna!

"Tigger" asked after yesterday's post whether I would be celebrating today - yes this very day is Janmashtami 2021!!! At the ashram, we celebrated as many of the festivals as was possible without major disruption to study. However, going out into the world, each will celebrate according to their region, their own heritage and/or according to the congregation they gather (if in yellow). 

For myself, I acknowledge several festivals, this one included, by means of writing about them, and lighting the altar lamp. There are festivals that hold deeper meaning for me and which I do actively celebrate; Deepavali, Christmas, Maha Shivratri, Sri Ram-Navami, Easter and Guru Purnima. (Although a little late of date, my article on Gurudev was a celebration of GP this year! It is worth noting that the 'quote box' on that page exemplifies the integration of spirituality with daily life in dharma.)  I will share more on these festivals as we go along. They cannot be ignored in the process of the memoir, for they set the scene of the ashram, of life in India, but also of the spiritual effects upon this student. Everything is linked. Immersion was unavoidable!