With apologies to all involved, I'll try to get these facts correct...
Here are the basics: Last Friday was the beginning of the Ganesha Festival and it began with a bang (see previous blog entry). On the fifth, seventh, tenth and twelfth days of the festivals, groups of Hindus -- either a housing co-op, an extended family, or a business -- bring their decorated Ganesha statue down to the beach and ceremoniously immerse it into the water. We visited our local beach, Juhu Beach, on the seventh day of the festival, which was an important day, but not nearly has popular as the last day of the festival. The last day of the festival, Sept 22, is so popular and the traffic is so bad that we have to have an early dismissal from school.
The Ganesha ceremony begins in the family home/apartment complex/business with prayers, offerings, and song. Then, the whole group of people gets moving and makes their way to the immersion site, the closest beach. Depending on the amount of effort being spent, this may include renting a mini-semi truck to carry the statue, around 30 people and a huge stereo system to blast on the way so that every one can hear you coming. If the family has a more modest income, they will just put the statue in the back of their car. Some of them we saw went traditional and had an ox and cart hauling their statue to the sea while others were fancier with three trucks: one to carry the generator, one to carry people and the sound and light system, and one to pull the Ganesha, which was carefully adorned with hundreds of flowers. Think Macy's Day Parade, but at night.
What is really great about the processions in my opinion is that once they get to the beach, the trucks and sound systems have to stay in the parking lot. This makes the beach a "relatively" calm atmosphere with pockets of people gathering around their Ganesha and singing Hindu prayer songs. As we watched and learned more by talking with Hindus who were very happy to share their traditions with us, we became more entranced by the rituals. A very elaborate cycle of singing accompanies the head of the house or priest as they burn oil and circle the statue many times. Food and sweets are offered up as the intensity of the music progresses. After the climax of the music, prayers are quietly whispered, followed by one last touch of the statue by each parishioner. After this, the men walk backwards into the sea (the festival is timed so that the tide is out during the evening) and slowly push the statue out to sea.
There are so many parts to this event that we have thoughts about, but here are a few salient points:
1) Since the recent modernization of India, the statues have been made of plaster of paris, which has caused enormous environmental damage. Local environmental NGOs estimate the this festival alone causes a SEVEN mile dead zone in the Arabian Sea.
2) Walking the beach is also very erie as the dismembered Ganesha body parts from earlier are washed up on the shore -- watch your step.
3) The symbolism behind the entire ceremony to observe the rebirth of Ganesha as he is sent back into the sand. After the ceremony, family members bring back handfulls of sand back to their houses with them.
As I re-read my entry, I feel inadequate. Our experience was extremely powerful and I hope that I have conveyed a bit of it.
Our entire experience can be summed up with one conversation with one local.
Local 14-yr old boy: "Do you have this back in America?"
Greg: "No, not at all."
Boy: "I'm going to go the U.S. and bring this to you Americans!"
In essence, people were happy to share and teach us about the ceremony which made it all the more special.
RW
this has nothimg to relate to what the post was about but i auditing go play trumpet in the jazz band this year!
ReplyDeleteYou might be in India having a great time, but we are in cold, chilly, northern Wisconsin missing you. The white deer say hello!
ReplyDeleteLove, Your godmom