The post was started a few weeks ago. Was relevant then, but publishing it now anyway. Because of its significance and relevance at all times in our lives.
Twice a year when seasons change in India, we fast for nine days. There are 4-5 seasons in India. Other than your regular four seasons, we have the monsoons, when it rains consistently. But the impact on our bodies from late spring to summer and late summer to fall is much stronger than moving from winter to spring or spring to summer. That would be the case anywhere. With regards to fasting, it is not your regular fasting. Meaning you do not completely abstain from food and water. But for 8-9 days we keep away from heavy foods.
No wheat,
No rice,
No meat,
No onions,
No garlic,
No pulses or lentils.
Actually no grains.
We use flour made of chestnuts or buckwheat, which is not a grain but a seed. Nutritionally speaking, buckwheat is slightly higher, but in other ways it is lighter on the body (not sure about this, need more research).
The foods most consumed during these nine days are:
1. buckwheat flour or chestnut flour
2. milk and honey
3. yogurt
4. chutneys, usually made of mint and coriander, lemon, ginger and salt
5. tapioca --made from cassava. Either in granular form or as a flour.
6. A special kind of rice is used, which is also a seed and not grains.
7. Even the salt is different during this time. Similar to rock salt with higher minerals.
So --there is no dearth of variety and taste. Just twice a year, one week--we eat 'different'.
The reason?
During change of seasons our digestive fires are low and immunity is low. But our bodies need to adjust to seasonal changes. So we, as a culture, take a voluntary 9 day change of diet.
Ofcourse there is chanting, visiting temples and singing songs. It is spring, or it is transition into early winter, and both times we must calm our bodies down, lighten the intake of food and raise our vibrations with chanting and meditation. Watch here a 70 yr woman who looks 35-40 and talks about meditation..
But also, in spring, we are getting our bodies ready for summer, where as in early fall, we need to slowly ease our bodies from warmth into cold season.
This time is usually fun, everyone in the neighbourhood is eating the same, you order this food in restaurants sometime. And in both cases we are looking forward to a special celebration after these nine days.
People think of me as this biased person who constantly rants about Hinduism, but I know of very few other systems (Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, are all products of Hinduism and cannot stand alone.). That is why systems of Christianity or Islam to me are not that well thought out. They do not honor nature. They take spring and turn it into Jesus's resurrection Take winter solstice and turn it into birth of Jesus. So, it could be any thing, birth of Jesus, Prophet Mohammed or Krishna. But what cannot be debated is the change of seasons. Hinduism knows that. It knows the connection between bodies and environment. The only religion that taught vegetarianism. Mainly because it was one of the first agrarian societies, that also believed that all life was sacred. Hunting and meat eating happened, but there was no need for it, for there was a rich variety of vegetables and fruits.
I completely understand eating meat in cold climates, where nothing grows for half a year. So it's not a judgement. But present day meat eating is actually damaging to the environment.
Regardless, let me tell you one event that follows both these fasting times....Kanjak or Kanya Puja --Literally meaning worshiping girls (these girls are pre-pubescent and symbols of fertility) --this was our festival. We got phone calls early in the morning before going to school from several aunties in the neighbourhood to join them at their place. We would run with a plate from our house, because we were going to to be showered with gifts and food and money. So we needed our plates.
There our feet would be washed before we were treated like goddesses.
We, the Indians, especially the Hindus have a thing about our feet. We do not allow people to touch it. Feet are usually the dirtiest and the most tired part of our body. (forget the places where we wrap them in two layers of socks underneath our thick uh…….snow shoes).
And yet, there are rituals that expect you to touch the feet of those older than you, and of the deities and of those who are on a spiritual path—the sages, the wise men and the likes. Simply, because it is considered auspicious to bow to, and touch the feet of those who are ahead of us, whether in years, experience or spirituality.
But I also feel that we are enveloped in a sense of humility when we bow and touch someone else’s feet. Just like we bow and bring a serving tray to our guests. (sure, many of you are thinking, that is rare too, for who has the time to entertain…and McDonalization would recommend “self service” anyway).
I grew up in a Punjabi family. Regardless of what they tell you, in Punjabi families, especially the warrior class (Kshtriya), girls are considered goddesses. So daughters do not touch anyone’s feet until they get married. Maybe the religious people, and the deities in a temple. May-be.
Instead our parents wash our feet at the end of this nine-day festival, called Navratras (nine-nights) that comes around the change of season; Twice a year, at the onset of spring and autumn. We are the representation of the goddesses and our parents get us food and new clothes and money. As a little girl, those days used to be my favorite.
Early morning we would get regular ‘hollers’ and formal ‘invitations’ from our neighbours. We would have a list of houses to go to.
Oh by the way, we call everyone aunty or uncle, even when we are not related to them. I think this is one of the many remnants of the “communal” culture as we continue to evolve in modern times. Albeit with a little “western/British” spin, because before we used the vernacular terms for relations (different words for relatives from maternal and paternal sides, different terms for older and younger relatives…oh let us not go there…too complicated).
So, the order of list of houses to visit would go something like this, first, Malhotra aunty, then Khullar aunty, then the Tanejas, then Chadha aunty, then Dhawans, Bobby’s mummy, the Sahni’s and oh, don’t forget Chachiji (some times we use actual Hindi terms. We may or may not be related to them, but we usually address older people by how our parents address them. For example, I did not understand why I addressed my grandmother as “sister-in-law”. That is because my mom and her siblings called her the same. And that is because their uncles, my grand-mother’s brother in laws all called her that (bhabi- sister in law). And since families lived in close quarters, one familiar endearing way of addressing became the way to address the person).
So on the last day of the Navratras, we would be invited to represent the “Goddess”. We would be showered with flowers, rich food, red scarves, nail polishes, jewelry and of course money.
Why?
Because we were the goddesses. The conduit for all life. Remember men cannot enter this world save through a woman.
All the prepubescent sassy girls, were ready to earn their dues as the “life energy of the community.” I clearly remember boys in our neighbourhood would come running and remind us that we were good friends so they could share in our “gifts and bounty”
“Hey, we are best friends right?” And we would laugh knowing that at the end of the day we would be a several rupees richer than all the boys in the neighborhood.
Women also sowed wheat grains in a bowl and harvested them after nine days.
I remember asking my mom why at the end of the nine days we would always have the grown wheat stalk, cut from freshly grown wheat (khetri) in a large bowl, in our prayer tray.
She said, we were warriors and land-holders. As is the case in, all feudal societies, those who go to war always own land, to sustain them during the peaceful years. And because we have been urbanized, neither do we live the lives of landowners or warriors, nor, in many ways, fight for our country. But, we still owe a great deal to mother earth. And so, in that light we bow to newly grown wheat stalks. The sprouts are a symbol of harvest and a reminder of the basic fuel for life that we all need. And so pay our homage to the Mother/ Goddess earth!! (the word for mother or a woman in Hindi is synonymous with Goddess, I always love that!! Very few cultures can say that!! i.e. Ma (mother) also the word Devi, which means Goddess is also the equivalent for ‘Madam/Maam’. So all the Maam’s are really Devi’s, ).
And we celebrate, nature and women in a major way twice at the change of seasons and in many other ways during the year.
This year, it was April 28.
