A Happy Deepavali!

20 Oct 2006

Hi all,

A happy Deevali/Deepavali to you.

In line with the spirit of Deevali, here’s to share some more light on Susmit’s note below:

Deevali is probably more alike the Chinese festival of Dong Jie (Winter festival) celebrated around Dec 20. Reason is they are related to the winter solstice where the northern hemisphere experiences its longest night of the year (thus need to set more lights on in case of Deevali or Deepavali).

All agrarian cultures in regions that go through the 4 seasons, winter/summer solstices can be quite easily determined by tracking where in the horizon the sun rises/sets and is already well noted for thousands of years.

In the northern hemisphere, winter solstice is significant as after this day the sun ‘begin to return’ to the northern hemisphere and brings along with it ‘life’ – plants/crops/flowers will start to grow and animals/birds will ‘return’ soon after that day (as mother earth in northern hemisphere warms up). This day is thus well known and celebrated in all great cultures from the Romans, Persians, Egyptians, Indians to Chinese for a long long time.

Over time either because societies grew ‘less’ agrarian or due to ‘calendar drifts’ as some cultures follow a non-fully solar calendar (like the Indian calendar), some cultures lost track of the ‘origins’ of such festivals and/or the day of celebration gets ‘misaligned’ with the astronomical event.

The Romans used to celebrate this event for 1 week (starting from the solstice which falls around Dec 20/21). The Christians that ‘inherited’ things from the Romans hijacked the last day of this festival for another purpose which most people today ‘ignorantly’ celebrate as X’mas.

Quiz:
If the pre-christianity Romans began their 1 week celebration on Dec 20/21, how come the ‘last day’ per the hijack above fell on Dec 25 instead of Dec 27/28? (clue: another piece of dust from history)

Indira Gandhi once told LKY “we are all covered by the dust of history….”

I say “we all need to see through the thick layer of dust covering us and discover how humans behave – how mother Nature and its greatness/beauty can be mis-interpreted/mis-represented or even manipulated by some human minds often to the long term detriment of not just ourselves but Earth itself”.

Man-made festivals aside, we should all celebrate all of Nature and all that it gives… everyday. It is that beautiful.

Rgds
CCK



From: Susmit GUPTA
Subject: Happy Deepavali!

Hi All,

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Very Happy Deepavali!

A little background for those who are ignorant as to why Deepavali is celebrated. Alike the Chinese New Year, the Hindus in India also follow a Hindu Calendar. Deepavali marks the beginning of a New Year according to the Hindu Calendar.

In India, Deepavali is also known as the festival of lights because the families decorate their houses with lots of candles and every possible light in the house is switched on. The new year is welcomed by bursting fire crackers is almost all the houses and is the highlight for most of the youngsters of the family. We also pray to the Hindu deities for fortune and good health. For almost a week after Deepavali friends and families visit each other to celebrate and eat lavish meals. The younger family members will always be given some money by the elders of the family (Another highlight of the occasion).

There is a lot more history behind the day (I will not get into it) and is referenced in the Hindu mythological book The Ramayana! For those interested can read the English translation available at the National Library. :)

I would like to wish all of you good health and a prosperous year ahead!

Best Regards,
Susmit Gupta