But why did these practices and beliefs so lovingly passed down many generations fade away sometime in the 20th century and are now being rediscovered?
Everyone seems to have keen recollections of what was done on every occasion during their childhood and having taken part in them joyously. Even during the ‘traditional’ new year days celebrated this past week, there was much sharing of such memories, at gatherings and on social media.
Yet no one is forthcoming on why they did not continue such beloved customs when they set out on their own lifepaths in adulthood, much less pass them on to their children.
Was there a niggling feeling of embarrassment about those ‘quaint’ practices thanks to the implicit messages embedded in our ‘modern’ education? Or is it due to plain laziness as many of these customs need diligence and patience but we are now addicted to instant gratification? Or is it because while as kids we enjoyed these customs very few of us took the trouble to understand their significance even after we grew out of dismissive and impatient adolescence?
Take the various ‘new years’, celebrated across India in what we are conditioned to believe is “actually” the third or fourth month of the “modern” calendar; although that was actually instituted by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE! Interestingly, Protestant Britain and its North American colonies did not accept the 16th century Catholic Gregorian calendar (based on the Julian calendar) until 1752 and thus observed March 25 as New Year’s Day till then.Now everyone joins in the countdown to the new year on December 31 – quite a random date really in the cosmological scheme of things. As it is the only event our fractious planet still happily observes in unison, there is no reason to return to more astronomically significant if regionally divergent new year dates. But we should realise that our traditional Ugadi, Poila Boishakh, Gudi Padwa, Bihu, Vishu, Puthandu, Navreh, Sangken etc. have more than nostalgia value.Even a cursory look at how these ‘traditional’ new year dates are ascertained reveal deep links to and respect for the Earth and circadian rhythms, which too many of us have forgotten, deliberately or otherwise.
At a time when we are all becoming increasingly aware of how much harm our wilful neglect of the Earth has caused in the past few centuries, returning to harmony with its rhythms is a no-brainer. Disconnect in the name of modernity cannot continue. Earth’s primordial rhythms often manifest in surprising ways. This year, my red Amaryllis lilies that bloom around Easter burst forth “early”, two weeks ago. Easter is tomorrow, one of the few Christian holy days calculated on the lunar cycle – the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. This Easter is comparatively “late”, but the flowers, obeying the inexorable movement of the Sun faithfully bloomed in the first week of April!
Our ancestors realised that the silent interplay of the Sun, Moon and planets also profoundly affect our bodies, determining many things from mood to fertility. The almanacs that mark new years, sowing, harvest and fallow periods, also evolved out of that understanding. Practically every traditional festival subliminally reminds us that we are all connected to the cosmos. It is up to us to recognise that connection and act on it, not just put it away lovingly in a memory box.
