AFVOA Newletters of Year 2003

Page 48 of 170 Varshapirappu is Tamil New Year. This festival falls in the month of April. Early in the morning, the entrance to the house is decorated with Kolam (Rangoli) and the doorway adorned with mango leaves/flowers to mark the auspicious occasion. After an early bath, the family prays together, and the children seek the blessings of their parents. No specific mantra is recited. Lord Ganesha is offered fruits, sweets and flowers. Food prepared on this day has a philosophy to convey. Special dishes are prepared to drive home the reality of life, a combination that is a cycle. Neem tree blossoms during the month and its bitter flowers are mixed with the sweet jaggery “pachadi” and similarly the “rasam” has a dash of the neem flowers to make it “veppam poo rasam”. The day is marked by visits to the houses of friends and relatives to exchange greetings and presents with token money, fruits betel leaves and areca nuts. In the afternoon the “years forecast” as per the zodiac sign and its influence for the ensuing year is explained in gatherings that generally assemble in the area temples. (Contributed by Smt Sulochana Krishnaswami) Baisakhi Among the popular festivals enriching the varied culture of India, is the festival of Baisakhi. The festival stands for the dawn of a new year in the northern India, especially the state of Punjab. In Punjab, Baisakhi has a unique significance, the day also commemorates the founding of the Khalsa by the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh. The festival of Baisakhi is an important festival for the Sikhs because it is a formal celebration of the brotherhood of their community. These festivals mark the seasons which signal to man the time for work and the time for relaxation, the commencement of the agricultural cycle with sowing in spring, and its culmination with the harvesting of the golden grain. And then, of course, we have, in endless variations of legend and myth, the hallowed perceptions that there is an ever-renewed war of light and darkness, of the divine and the demoniac in the unceasing evolution of the world. Baisakhi (also called Vaisakhi) is a harvest festival, which is celebrated on the thirteenth day of April according to the solar calendar. It is celebrated in North India, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, when the rabi crop is ready for harvesting. The day begins with a ceremonial bath and followed by prayers. A little later, the first ripe ears of wheat are gathered and brought home to be offered to the family deities to invoke their blessings. This tough agricultural operation is rendered into a lighter occupation by merry community festivities such as the Bhangra dance by men, who pound the ground with vigorous steps accompanied by singing. Women, too, break into a revelry of dances, principally the Gidda dance, executed with fervour and rhythmic exactitude. On these occasions, men and women adorn themselves with gay-coloured clothes and traditional jewellery. Generally, the sites of these festivities are on the banks of the rivers which have their sacred import with myths and legends woven around their origin and names. Baisakhi has a special meaning for the Sikhs. On this day in 1699, their tenth Guru Gobind Singh organized the order of the Khalsa and administered amrit (nectar) to his first batch of five disciples making them Singhs, a martial community. Again, on this day in 1875,