Jas Personal Blog
Posts tagged Cultures
World was less superstitious on this eclipse
Jul 23rd
Morning of July 22nd 2009. When the dawn of an eclipsed son passed along over India, see the irony of nature – Varanasi, the famous religious epicenter of India, where inhabitation dates back to thousand of years. It is infact one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Irony lies in the fact that any eclipse, especially solar, is attributed as a very unholy and inauspicious happening. In India, many people often won’t eat because the lack of sun makes food impure, and expectant mothers do not want to give birth on the day there is an eclipse as it is thought some babies could be born with birth defects.
“This is a belief deeply rooted in Indian society. Couples are willing to do anything to ensure that the baby is not born on that day,” Shivani Sachdev Gour, a gynecologist at the Fortis Hospital in New Delhi, told AFP .
Some astrologers even warned of impending terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and civil wars too. Many also took a dip in holy rivers to cleanse themselves after the eclipse and some avoid cooking and eating during the eclipse.
But do not think this superstition thing is limited to India only, its everywhere. Lets see why people thought earlier that we have eclipses, as per mythology.
PAST
India – In Hindu mythology, Rahu is a snake that swallows the sun or the moon causing eclipses. He is depicted in art as a dragon with no body riding a chariot drawn by eight black horses. The rahu kala is considered inauspicious.
In China, it is believed that the dragon swallows the sun during eclipse. So they would beat drums to produce great noise and commotion to frighten away the dragon while, the Japanese would cover the wells so that the demons in the cover of darkness during the eclipse would not drop poison into them.
In Romania people believed that werewolves and demons ate up the sun during the eclipse. To frighten them away they would light up huge fires and ring church bells would be rung throughout the eclipse.
Tahiti believed that Sun and Moon were in love with each other but still could not be together as they used to fight a lot. So once in a while they meet each other and make love, which causes eclipse.
At a time of a solar or lunar eclipse, there is a recommended prayer (salatul-kusuf) that is performed by the Muslim community in congregation.
Present
Knowledge has changed things now, though it has not eradicated them all. The new age of informed people are more keen to witness the historic event, and accept it as just another celestial event as Leonid showers, Jupiter hole, Mars and Venus appearance. Here are some pics where you can religious faith people enjoying the event.
Sadhus, or Hindu holy men, watch the solar eclipse through specially-designed viewing glasses in Allahabad, India.
Devotees observe a solar eclipse as they take holy dips in the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Sarawati River in Allahabad.
Photos courtesy – http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/1448-2.html
Taliban – the social bastards
May 13th
You may ask me to mind my language, but if after reading this post you still believe in saying these words to me, I would ask you to mind your language.
One morning of Nov 2008, Shamsia Husseini and her sister were walking through the muddy streets to the local girls school when a man pulled alongside them on a motorcycle and posed what seemed like an ordinary question.
“Are you going to school?”
As they replied affirmative, the man pulled Shamsia’s burqa from her head and sprayed her face with burning acid. Three pairs of men on motorcycles began circling the school. One of the teams used a spray bottle, another a squirt gun, another a jar. They hit 11 girls and 4 teachers in all; 6 went to the hospital. Shamsia fared the worst. Scars, jagged and discolored, now spread across Shamsia’s eyelids and most of her left cheek. Her vision has started going blurry now, making it hard for her to read.
Atifa Ali, 20, left, Shamsia Husseini, 17, center, and Fatima Sakhi, 19
You may discount it off as an one off incident, after all Taliban and and other fundamentalists are making news for all wrong reasons daily. But let me bring more knowledge on latest events to your indifference. At least 98 people from an Afghan girls school were admitted to a hospital on Tuesday (yesterday) for headaches and vomiting in the third such episode in three weeks, officials and doctors said. Officials are suspecting gas poisoning.
Students were lining up outside their school in northeastern Afghanistan when one girl collapsed, said the school’s principal, Mossena, who was herself in a hospital bed gasping for breath as she described the event. She said a strange odor had filled the schoolyard. Then other girls started passing out. Ms. Mossena said she did not know what happened next because she collapsed and woke up in the main hospital in Muhmud Raqi, the capital of Kapisa Province, which lies just northeast of Kabul. The episode was the third in three weeks in which girls became sickened at school by what the authorities described as a gas cloud. A similar event took place late last month also in Parwan, when dozens of girls were hospitalized after being sickened by what Afghan officials said were strong fumes or a possible poison gas cloud.
Local mosques are splashed with posters shouting “Don’t Let Your Daughters Go to School”.
There was an ancient crime called Sati earlier in our customs of ancient India. This is a bigger crime as Sati was done under a belief, which itself was barbaric and savage. But such incidents are done under hatred and need for a male dominance sparked by the jealousy. This is worst! I do not believe in judgment day, but I hope it comes for these rotten souls where they get damned and anathemized to suffering themselves equivalent to what they have caused to every single human ever.
The impostors of God/Allah should see themselves to understand their own mentally ill psyche. One who can not value a lady as a mother, sister or a daughter; who can damn her to burqa to hide her body and face and then rape them throwing off the same burqas, who beat their own women and lecher around at the sight of other women, who teach the others the Allah/God’s way of living and then filth around in liquor and opium wilting the same lives of Allah/God’s children, who talk of eroding the other reliogions than theirs, but promises to leave if given money/Zazia, blackmailing their own self… this ONE is surely one of the worst social bastard of our time.
What answer do we give to them?
“My parents told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed,” said Shamsia, 17, in a moment after class. Her mother, who like nearly all of the adult women in the area, is unable to read or write says, “The people who did this to me don’t want women to be educated. They want us to be stupid things.” And I can not agree any more with her.
I do not know what Islam Taliban is teaching, what Hinduism these Sena people are preaching and what sikkhism the ‘Babbar Khalsa’ was teaching. Any teaching where a person hurts some one else, where a decision of one is imposed on other is a stinking fake teaching.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/world/asia/13school.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/world/asia/14kandahar.html?_r=1
April 13th – The day of festivals
Apr 13th
Its April the 13th and chances are quite high that you shall be feeling the spirit of festival inside you or in your elders’ heart back home, just in case you are abroad 
It is quite strange how so many civilizations, so diverse in language and rituals are coming together to celebrate this day of spirit and rejoice.
It is quite strange how so many civilizations, so diverse in language and rituals are coming together to celebrate this day of spirit and rejoice.
Baisakhi
For the large farming community of Punjab and Haryana, Baisakhi marks a New Year’s time as it is time to harvest rabi crop. On Baisakhi, farmers thank god for the bountiful crop and pray for good times ahead. People buy new clothes and make merry by singing, dancing and enjoying the best of festive food. In several villages of Punjab, Baisakhi Fairs are organized where besides other recreational activities, kabbadi and wrestling bouts are also held.Rongali Bihu
Beautiful agricultural state of Assam celebrates major agricultural events as the festival of Bihu. Notably there are three Bihu festivals in year namely – Rongali Bihu or Bohag Bihu, Bhugali (Magh Bihu) and Kangali (Kati Bihu) marking the distinctive phase in the farming calendar. Of the three Bihu festivals, Rongali Bihu is celebrated with greatest excitement as it marks the arrival of spring – the agricultural season.
People of all faiths and creed celebrate Bohag Bihu by singing traditional Bihugeets and performing group folk dances. Marking the occasion young boys and girls in village don traditional dhoti, gamosa and saadar mekhela and sing Bihugeets or folk Bihu songs in traditional bihutolis or Mukoli Bihus. The accompanied orchestra of dhol, pépa (buffalo hornpipe) and gagana add joys to the celebrations. At several places Bihu fairs are also organized where people participate in the games and other fun-filled activities.
Naba Barsha/Poila Baisakh
Naba Barsha is the celebration of Bengali New Year !! Naba Barsha in Bengal marks the first day of Baisakh – the first month of Bengali Calendar (too). A very important tradition of Naba Varsha is the making of elaborate rangolis or alpanas in front of the house by womenfolk. Rangolis are prepared with flour and its center is adorned with earthenware pot decorated with auspicious swastika. This pot is filled with holy water and mango leaves to symbolize a prosperous year for the family.
On Naba Barsha, people of West Bengal propitiate Goddess Lakshmi – the Hindu Goddess of Wealth to pray for prosperity and well being. Many devotees also take a dip in a nearby river to mark the occasion. For Bengalis, Naba Barsha is the beginning of all business activities. Businessmen and traders purchase new accounting books and start new account known as Haalkhata. People also worship Lord Ganesha by chanting mantras.
Puthandu
Puthandu marks the Tamil New Year’s Day and is celebrated in the beginning of Chithirai – the first month in the Tamil Calendar year. The auspicious occasion of Puthandu is also popularly known as Varusha Pirappu or the birth of New Year and falls on 13th or 14th April according to the Gregorian Calendar. Many people in Tamil Nadu also celebrate Puthandu as the day when Lord Brahma – Hindu God of Creation started creation. People of Tamil Nadu celebrate Varusha Pirappu in a big way by merrymaking and feasting.
A popular custom of Puthandu is ‘kanni’ which means the auspicious sight. Following the ritual, people start the Puthandu day by watching auspicious things like gold and silver jewelery, betel leaves, nuts, fruits and vegetables, flowers, raw rice and coconuts. A bath and a visit to the temple usually follow Kanni.
Vishu
Vishu Festival heralds the beginning of Malayalese New Year and is celebrated in a big way in the state of Kerala and the adjoining areas of Tamil Nadu. Vishu falls on the first day in the Malayalam month of Medam. Kerala also celebrates the custom of Vishu is Vishukani or Kani Kanal (first sight) same as Kanni of tamil. In villages of Kerala, young men and women dress up as the ‘chozhi’ by wearing a skirt of dried banana leaves and masks on their faces. These entertainers would then move from house to house and collect reward for their performances.Vaishakha
People of Bihar celebrated Vaishakha twice a year, first in the Hindu month of Vaishakha (April) and then in the month of Kartika (November). Vaishakha Festival is dedicated to Surya Devta or Sun God in Bihar. Vaishakha celebrations in Bihar are marked in a village called Surajpur-Baragaon. Following the ancient practice, devotees pay obeisance to the Sun God by taking bath in the temple tank and offering flowers and water from the sacred rivers of Ganga.
In pic you can see devotees from Bihar offering bananas and coconuts in front of Sun on the occasion of Chhath Puja.
Songkran Water Festival
Songkran marks the start of the Buddhist New Year and officially lasts from April 13-15. Most business pretty much grinds to a halt during the festival period with schools, government offices and many shops shutting down. Airports, bus stations and train stations are jammed with travelers headed back to their home provinces.
But then where do all these people go? Well, you can see the families crammed into the back of pickup trucks, chugging along in bumper-to-bumper traffic and squirting water at other vehicles and pedestrians. The water warriors use squirt guns, super soakers, hoses, buckets, garbage cans and anything else they can get their hands on in order to disperse their liquid ammunition.
The origins of Songkran date back nearly a thousand years to when the Tai people (ancestors of modern day Thais) in China’s Yunnan Province celebrated the start of a new farming cycle during the fifth full moon of the lunar calendar. Water is used in Songkran as both a symbol of cleansing and renewal. In the past, Thai people would delicately sprinkle scented water from silver bowls or the hands of respected family members. They would also make pilgrimages to area temples and carefully bathe the Buddha images in a similar manner. Songkran is also a time when Thai people routinely do a thorough cleaning of their homes. Additionally, people make offerings to local temples and provide food and new robes for monks.The Water Splashing Festival
Traditional festival of Dai people of Xishuangbanna and other places; is also known as the Festival for bathing Lord Buddha. The festival is related to the Buddhist legend of dragon sprinkling fragrant showers on Lord Buddha at his birth. The Buddhist legend has gradually been mingled with the customs of the Dai people since their conversion to Buddhism.
People take part in the rowing dragon-boat race, launching Gaosheng (a kind of mini rocket) and fire lamps. Water splashing is the most exciting of all. People splash water onto each other as a symbol of benediction.
So Happy April the 13th! Wherever you come from!
