Traditions

Over the past week I have experienced a few of the many traditions that are celebrated in India:  Diwali, Kali Puja, and Annaprashan.

Kali Puja

We attended the ritualistic worship celebration of Kali here at the Ramakrishna Mission. As far as I understand, Kali is a Hindu goddess that is worshiped as the Mother Goddess who is known to destroy all evil. She is depicted with a dark fierce face. The worship started at 8pm where a large room full (school size auditorium size) of people paid their respects to the goddess. The monks performed a ritualistic ceremony that lasted until 5 am.

Barbara and I were very proud of ourselves as we remained there until 1:30am then took a short nap and quickly returned for the conclusion of the ceremony at 4:00am. I was surprised to see how many people stayed for the duration of the ceremony. (And have I mentioned, that Barbara is 80 years old....impressive!)

Oh, did I say, conclusion? Well, that’s what I thought until I woke from a short nap to find that the activities continued into that following day, First, by a large feast consisting of all the offerings brought to Kali the day prior. Followed that evening by the conclusion (this time, the real one) of the ceremony known as “the immersion”. The statue of Kali is carried in celebration through the tree lined, candle lit roads of Narendrapur accompanied by clapping, dancing, shouting and cheering men. From what I am told, Bengali women are not to dance. Barbara said that we weren’t Bengali, so we could join in.  The statue is brought to the water and placed on a large floating structure adorned with large banana plant leaves.  The floating structure is then placed in the water and rotated 7 times until she is slowing released to the water.  The procession returns to the auditorium where a prayer/chant is said and Shanty( peace) is granted to all.

Annaprashan

During my stay here, I have been fortunate enough to meet an adorable family: Abir, Dolo, and baby Rishi. They have introduced me to another interesting tradition called Annaprashan. It is the start of feeding solids to an infant. As it is said in India the “taking of rice. It is a tradition throughout Inida but may be done differently depending on the region.  In the Bengali region, the “taking of rice” is done on the day the baby turns 6 months old.  At that time, he is being weaned from breastfeeding.  It is tradition for the maternal

uncle to feed the first bite and then the remainder of the family participate in giving the baby a taste.  Today, we met with extended family members who traveled from their towns to be here for this traditional step in little Rishi’s life.

We will miss the ceremony as it will occur during our excursion to Bangalore.

But we are looking forward to seeing pictures when we return.

Here are a few photos of Kali Puja and of the family excitedly awaiting the Annaprashan of their 6 month old son.