Pongal is just around the corner. And like all other festivals, it is nostalgia time for me. My mind goes back to my childhood, a time when every festival had its own significance for me….. and was eagerly awaited… if it was not crackers, then it was the sweets….. it was the family lunches, the new clothes….. even the pujas….
No longer so…. I often wonder why…. Why have festivals lost their charm?
Let us examine festivals at two levels : the more ‘visible’ level of rituals and symbols associated with a festival. And a deeper level, of the significance or meaning behind the festival.
As far as the first one is concerned, they include among other things wearing new clothes, eating festival food (sweets being the main attraction for most) and such. Think of a society where people do not have money to wear new clothes or eat rich food all the time and need an occasion – which they save up for. Whereas now, people buy and wear new clothes at whim, no occasion needed. Same goes for food.
As standards of living have increased and people have become more ‘urbanised’, family gatherings are getting rarer and rarer. Given all this, what is there to look forward to in a festival?
At a deeper level of ‘meaning’, I realize it is because all festivals are so closely connected to the earth we live in….. to nature…. And the older I become, the further I move away from nature…… and from the root of traditions and festivals too…..
Take Pongal. Called Pongal or Sankranti or whatever and celebrated through the country. To mark the year’s fresh harvest. To commemorate the Sun God who makes all things grow and prosper. Associated festivals around Pongal are Boghi (Lodhi in the North) which marks newness: ‘off with the old and on with the new’ and Maatu Pongal (where the cow which is regarded as sacred is worshipped, again as the giver)/ Kanu Pongal (the South Indian version of Raksha Bandhan or Bhai Dhuj where the sister prays for the brother’s welfare, who in turn promises to protect her all her life).
In Tamilnadu, Pongal used to be a four day long festival…. No longer…. Like everything else, there is a mini version in practice…..
Why have festivals lost their charm? Have we forgotten to say thanks? Learnt to take everything for granted? All the bounties of nature…..