Sorry everyone for my blogging absence! Things around here have been pretty hectic with regards to assignments and meetings for school. This week alone I had to write one field work report, give a group presentation and write a 4,000 word essay on an Indian Social Reformer , submit a Quantitative Research Proposal (another group assignment), and write an individual essay about the Group Work Process (also 4,000 words)! This was in addition to the 15 hours I spent at field work on Monday and Tuesday, and the 16 hours of in-class lectures for the rest of the week! Needless to say, I haven’t felt much like typing anything I didn’t need to! But now that the dust is settling on this whirlwind week, I thought I should touch base and let everyone know that I’m still alive!
Despite the academic focus this past week has had, I did manage to have a little fun. Last Friday was a festival day for the South Indian state of Kerala. It’s called Onam, and is meant to celebrate the Harvest season. In honor of the holiday, the girls from Kerala all wore traditional saris from the region. Those of us not from the state still wore saris to school because, well, honestly we’ll take any excuse to dress up!
These are flowers arranged on the ground. Someone is talented!
Then, as if Onam weren’t enough, the culmination of the past 10 days of celebration of the Ganesh Chathurti finished on Saturday. Since September 3rd, Mumbai has been exploding with parades and loud music honouring 
Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god of wisdom, prosperity and fortune. For this festival, people purchase miniature (or not so miniature!) idols to place in their home. They worship them for 10 days, often inviting friends and relatives to their homes for special “pujas” (worship ceremonies). On the 11th day, the idols are taken through the streets in a procession of drums, dancing, fireworks, and the throwing of this incredibly bright pink powder that stains everything it touches! The parade ends with the statues being immersed in water (generally the sea here, though some people just use a fountain or a tub). This symbolizes Ganesh’s return to his home. There is a rather large Ganesh that was put up near my flat, so when the time for the immersion came, my flatmate and I went out into the street to watch it leave. I was initially wary of getting too close to the pink dye, but finally decided to take a risk for the sake of good pictures. Fortunately, I was able to snap a few shots without getting dusted with it! 
Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god of wisdom, prosperity and fortune. For this festival, people purchase miniature (or not so miniature!) idols to place in their home. They worship them for 10 days, often inviting friends and relatives to their homes for special “pujas” (worship ceremonies). On the 11th day, the idols are taken through the streets in a procession of drums, dancing, fireworks, and the throwing of this incredibly bright pink powder that stains everything it touches! The parade ends with the statues being immersed in water (generally the sea here, though some people just use a fountain or a tub). This symbolizes Ganesh’s return to his home. There is a rather large Ganesh that was put up near my flat, so when the time for the immersion came, my flatmate and I went out into the street to watch it leave. I was initially wary of getting too close to the pink dye, but finally decided to take a risk for the sake of good pictures. Fortunately, I was able to snap a few shots without getting dusted with it! 
The Ganesh leaving my neighborhood
A woman who was not so lucky with the pink powder. (I'm sure she wasn't trying to avoid being dusted!)
A sweet little girl riding the cart with the Ganesh idol.
Hinduism is such an incredibly complex religion. The variations in worship and beliefs and even the gods they recognize are so different from region to region, that it’s essentially impossible for me to get concrete answers to my questions about what Hindus believe and why. I’m really trying to understand this faith, as Hinduism seems to have been incorporated into every facet of Indian life.
I think the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around is the idea of worshipping objects. Because my belief is that God is Omnipresent and Spirit, I can’t imagine having a connection or feeling the need to show such incredible respect to a man-made statue as if it were my God. In fact, I feel like in my journey of faith, most of my efforts have been to keep myself from confining God to human constraints of time or space.
Ephesians 3:20-21 says: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” When I read that, I am reminded how often I limit God in my own head, by looking at a task and seeing it as too big to overcome, forgetting that the Creator of the world is behind me! In a way, it’s like I am creating a miniature god and forgetting how big He truly is!
Anyway, I’m not intending for this to be a Bible lesson. It’s just some of my recent musings that have come up. Encounters with such a diverse and rich culture seem to have a way of making me think about my own values and beliefs, which, in my opinion, is never a bad thing.
I think the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around is the idea of worshipping objects. Because my belief is that God is Omnipresent and Spirit, I can’t imagine having a connection or feeling the need to show such incredible respect to a man-made statue as if it were my God. In fact, I feel like in my journey of faith, most of my efforts have been to keep myself from confining God to human constraints of time or space.
Ephesians 3:20-21 says: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” When I read that, I am reminded how often I limit God in my own head, by looking at a task and seeing it as too big to overcome, forgetting that the Creator of the world is behind me! In a way, it’s like I am creating a miniature god and forgetting how big He truly is!
Anyway, I’m not intending for this to be a Bible lesson. It’s just some of my recent musings that have come up. Encounters with such a diverse and rich culture seem to have a way of making me think about my own values and beliefs, which, in my opinion, is never a bad thing.
2 comments:
I think one thing that helped me understand Hinduism more than ever was from my Eastern religions class, that Hinduism has no real beginning, no roots, no founder. Even the word Hinduism comes from the root of India - it's just a word that Westerners used to describe the religious practices they saw. So really, Hinduism is just idolatry, just as old as humanity itself. Helps make sense of all the chaos of millions of gods and so on.
Wow. THey are always celebrating something! Amazing! And I am glad you have survived your week of stuff and I hope you survive your finals. I would be so nervous!! Don't get sick from worry and study!
And praise God that we know Whom we worship. I also am guilty of restricting my views of God at times to me and what I can do/understand. It is amazing to think of how much bigger he will always be than anything we can imagine! What a comfort!
We love you,
Lucy
Post a Comment