Suddenly this new year eve, I got thinking about the rituals of wishing the old year out and ringing the new one in. And about how differently we welcome a New Year traditionally in India versus how the West has traditionally welcomed it.
Don't know about others but I struggle with integrating the two for myself.
Traditionally, I feel we don't celebrate the new year as much as we observe it. We follow a different calendar for this, have a puja at home or we go to a temple after daybreak and cook a lot of stuff that is special for that day. On the other hand, the english calendar new year has always been about partying on the eve of the new year(with or without alcohol), spilling over past midnight and celebrating the arrival of the new day and the new year more by the clock than by sunrise. The praying versus the partying captured the essence of the difference for me.
Left me wondering if this may also become meaningless soon - people on TV, celebrating the new year in New Zealand, when it was still only late afternoon here, triggered it for me.
Electricity has obscured the distinction between night and day, industrialisation has obviated the need to be aware of the seasons and globalization and the digital age has meant that time and space distinctions are no longer that relevant.
We work 24/7 with both light and temperature being controlled so we dont need to have a sense of day or night, Alaska or Dubai. We take holidays when we can get the leave sanctioned, when the schools are closed, where the weather is pleasant and there are no adverse travel advisories.
Hooked to our blackberries, day and night, weekday and weekend, spring,summer, autumn and winter dont really matter anymore.Our work and our leisure times are getting intertwined and clear cut boundaries are difficult to maintain today.So what does a new year really signify other than another excuse to party?
Given this reality, what part would festivals, rituals and occasions play in the future? More so as we begin to participate in the rituals and celebrate the festivals of the many nations (and their dominant faiths) that we have become part of. For example, I have relatives and friends who are more likely to know when Hanukkah or Thanksgiving is, than Mahalaya Ammavasai or Vaikunta Ekadasi. And i wouldn't hold it against them It isn't relevant to their current context.
Would the power of ritual to evoke what was originally intended for a community get even more marginalized? Particularly when our ability, readiness or willingness to craft new rituals for the new contexts we find ourselves in, has never been tested. This too leaves me wondering...
We work 24/7 with both light and temperature being controlled so we dont need to have a sense of day or night, Alaska or Dubai. We take holidays when we can get the leave sanctioned, when the schools are closed, where the weather is pleasant and there are no adverse travel advisories.
Hooked to our blackberries, day and night, weekday and weekend, spring,summer, autumn and winter dont really matter anymore.Our work and our leisure times are getting intertwined and clear cut boundaries are difficult to maintain today.So what does a new year really signify other than another excuse to party?
Given this reality, what part would festivals, rituals and occasions play in the future? More so as we begin to participate in the rituals and celebrate the festivals of the many nations (and their dominant faiths) that we have become part of. For example, I have relatives and friends who are more likely to know when Hanukkah or Thanksgiving is, than Mahalaya Ammavasai or Vaikunta Ekadasi. And i wouldn't hold it against them It isn't relevant to their current context.
Would the power of ritual to evoke what was originally intended for a community get even more marginalized? Particularly when our ability, readiness or willingness to craft new rituals for the new contexts we find ourselves in, has never been tested. This too leaves me wondering...
Would love to hear others out on this one.
7 comments:
Nice thought... While we party on the 31st of December, are we celebrating a good year that went by or are we celebrating the new year that we look forward to ?
Do you have to be so thought provoking so early in the year? ;-) Jokes apart, keep them coming!
You just summed up the confusion of at least a few million Indian minds. Truth is, we're not conscious of why we observe a ritual or a festive occasion. I guess it becomes an individual thing with lots of parental emotional blackmail and peer pressure thrown in. Sometimes, it's the same old actions with a new name.
In terms of pure action, how different are bhogi and spring cleaning anyway?
Yes, You are right - the impending arrival of Pongal sort of pushed me also.
Any idea why we follow a regulated eating pattern on the day of an eclipse? For instance, owing to the annular eclipse today, I have been told that one must not eat between 11 and 3. Would love to know the logic.
A pretty interesting topic to discuss on.
I personally am unaware of a lot of customs and traditions which we practice at home. And a few of them have been neglected and just left behind 'cause we think that they're mere superstitions.
I believe the main reason for this is because of the lack of communication between us and the ones who "know its significance". Sometimes we fail to take time out of our mechanical schedule to question these beliefs and end up doing them blindly (just 'cause dad says so). What happens is when we ask our parents they probably are too busy to explain or rather are not too sure themselves and so they just ignore our questions and there is not enough source for us to refer to either.
if you could write a post regarding their significance, it would probably be helpful 'cause i'm so sure there is a great depth of meaning hidden behind every custom we follow. :)
and btw, I found your blog on a random search and found it interesting :)
Hi Rajashree,
Thank you for taking time out to read my blog and for your comments.
I completely agree with you that every ritual is full of significance and meaning. It is meant to fulfill a certain need in the individual or the community. As you say, much is lost due to indifference, by blind adherence, by changing contexts and we dont have ready access to that knowledge.
I will try and explore the meanings of some rituals going forward.
In reality i dont think we are actually celebrating the year gone by...not the arrival of the new year. Its just a reason to celebrate.
and we proudly tell the world what we did on the evening and the night of dec 31st and how late we slept. wow..thats new yr celebration all about. in fact honestly there is no feeling good about it unlike deepavali or pongal or what ever festival we really celebrate. Ritual... well we do it bcoz most of us have been told to do it. sometimes we try and make some sense out of it. some times just do it. some times u do it and feel good that u did it. and when u dont do a ritual it doenst matter at all any way.
so it all boils down to ...ATTITUDE AND MINDSET !!!
Any way all said ...happy new year to all.
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