New Image, New Visions and New Hopes: Gott Nytt År!

This is an old pic, but my favourite. Taken sometime after Christmas in the neighbourhood during the day.  Lights work differently in the light and in the dark.  You know our light is quite dark in winters. And so these lights are a sign of hope 

Lamps from the temple in an aarti thali!! Hindu ritual that removes darkness!  

And believe it or not this is India!! Temple on highest of mountains in the snow! 

Wishing you all a very happy new year. 

Although-- I have started to question this new year now.  Mainly because it is a western creation.  New year used to coincide with planetary movement.  But with the spread of Christianity they started to alter days of celebration. I do not know all thee details but here is a lecture Tales of Two Calendars, that can highlight much.  Great lecture by a mathematician who talks about dating systems, calendars and of course mathematics.

This one day and the whole world gets excited.  If anything, it can be symbolic. Meaning a sense of hope that things will change.  As we get older, we get cynical sometimes.  And think nothing changes.  

But these symbols of change are required and needed. 

My issue comes with this imperialistic idea of thinking there is only one new year.  Or the way Gregorian calendar is, is the only way the world should work.

Living in Sweden, I see the point. Absolutely! Living in Pennsylvania, I saw the point!

I did not see it in Fiji or in Botswana where we moved from summer to winter in January.  

Even Delhi felt fine, since January was one of the coldest month.  But it won't be in the South of India.

Then, I tell myself, why can't you be just happy and not cynical.  

Well, in that happiness without thinking lies the core of the problems today.  The resurgence movements around the world are simply for identity rather than being all the same blob.  As I see more and more women in India dress western, even though the climate does not fit it, and the same in Fiji and several countries in Africa, there is a sadness about it.

Fitted clothes are mostly for cold countries to keep the heat in.  IN warm countries they are just 'imitations' which make no sense.

I wonder how many in the world know about Nowruz, which is Persian new year? or Baisakhi, which is punjabi new year, or MakarSankranti, which comes on January 14, and is celebrated as New Year in many communities in India.  Now all these festivals I mentioned are actually associated with planetary, seasonal changes.  

Nowruz, meaning new day comes 20th of March, when the spring solstice happens, day light saving is marked and the days start to officially get longer. Hence, New Day.  Baiskahi on April 13, is a harvest festival, hence a new year for farmers, since the crops are ready to be sold in the market.  The festival is celebrated with fairs and folk dances and family gatherings. Makar Sankranti, is actually sun's movement into Makar (Capicorn)--and is celebrated as  the beginning of end of Winter.  In Sweden it is celebrated as Tjugondag Knut (will post a previous post soon to mark this one)--meaning 20 days after Christmas, when all the trees are shaken, candies dropped and shared with kids and trees taken to the grinder. Or chopped for firewood.

What is this new year? A made up day to fit Gregorian calendar, which makes little sense in many countries.  I mean in the southern hemisphere they are moving into winter, it feels more like death rather than any new life. Their new year should be in June!!

So, this new year, hope and pray that you all look back into your own traditions.  Create some of your own, but ask yourselves, where do you come from? Who were your ancestors, even if they converted to two major religions that came from the desert. There is power in connecting with our ancestors.  We get a different marker to identity ourselves and we are not competing in a world that does not see us.

One of the things that helped me was that I was raised in India. I never had to be anything else.  I held India close to my heart and have continued to wear Indian outfits even in cold countries.  People asked me in the US, if being a 'woman and an Indian' made me feel like a second class citizen.

Well, I am not a citizen, I would answer.  And being a woman and Indian is not something I can change.  So I carry it proudly.  In my mind, I was the norm. But many ethnic children being raised in the US dealt with self-imposed racism.  I should look like this, this is the kind of outfits I should wear to fit in etc.  

In Sweden New year is wished as "Gott Nytt År!' which can also mean 'delicious, tasty or palatable'. 

Despite this heavy post, I wish you all a connection with the self, a connection with your ancestors and here is a video from one of my favourite Swedish Vloggers about her connection with new year.

Wishing you all the best.  And thanks so much for reading!!