Diwali is a festival of light and colors. I have spent various time in India and have observed its obervance and practice in two different states in India , both kerela and Tamil Nadu. There are little to no difference between the two except for the dialect spoken. Divali itself is a celebration of good defeating evil, light over darkness. There are different back stories associated with the holiday. One story is that it is the homecoming of rama after defeating demon king Ravana. Lanterns and candles were lit to welcome him back. Some also believe it is the day Krishna defeated Narakasura. It is also seen as the day Bali is allowed to visit earth once an year. In kerela the state where my parents were born it is also known as onam and it is celebrated by every religion and is a cultural observance rather a religous one. The spiritual celebration of diwali is the celebration of ones soul or atman.
I went to the temple on yonkers ave and it was lit up from the outside decorated with christmas light, a modern day interpretation of light lamps to welcome back rama. I went inside and of course everyone inside was decked out in their best as its new years to them and I was just wearing a white polo so immediately I felt out of place. Of course everyone there was Indian so I didnt feel too akward.Me and my partner stood out back hoping something would happen soon and people kept giving us funny looks. eventually however a man came up to us and asked what we were doing and we said we were doing a project for our religion class. He led us to an elder and the elder once again went over the story of diwali just in more detail. I was zoning out as I knew the story I took this time to look around and noticed there was an altar type situation out front similar a church, and as is common in most eastern religions there was the smell of incense. The worship or pujaas it called actually started and I too observed there worship. In front of me was a plate with rice, colored paint powder and a samll ball that had the consitency of a rock. Basically all the puja broked down too was repeating what the leader said and doing whatever actions hed did. Similar to game of simon says. Thoughout the puja we did various things on the objects on our plates like pouring water on the rice grains, putting rice on flowers, and placing dots on peoples head who sat next to me. Th end the puja we passed a plate with fire on it and did a circular motion . Reminds me of churh just different gods.
I went to the temple on yonkers ave and it was lit up from the outside decorated with christmas light, a modern day interpretation of light lamps to welcome back rama. I went inside and of course everyone inside was decked out in their best as its new years to them and I was just wearing a white polo so immediately I felt out of place. Of course everyone there was Indian so I didnt feel too akward.Me and my partner stood out back hoping something would happen soon and people kept giving us funny looks. eventually however a man came up to us and asked what we were doing and we said we were doing a project for our religion class. He led us to an elder and the elder once again went over the story of diwali just in more detail. I was zoning out as I knew the story I took this time to look around and noticed there was an altar type situation out front similar a church, and as is common in most eastern religions there was the smell of incense. The worship or pujaas it called actually started and I too observed there worship. In front of me was a plate with rice, colored paint powder and a samll ball that had the consitency of a rock. Basically all the puja broked down too was repeating what the leader said and doing whatever actions hed did. Similar to game of simon says. Thoughout the puja we did various things on the objects on our plates like pouring water on the rice grains, putting rice on flowers, and placing dots on peoples head who sat next to me. Th end the puja we passed a plate with fire on it and did a circular motion . Reminds me of churh just different gods.
2 comments:
It is nice when we get the information we learn in class and hear about it outside but just more detail
The Simon Says comparison is an interesting one. Why do you think it was done in this way?
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