Dear reader,
One day, around this time last year, my son and I suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a dancing, drumming and cheering crowd of people! It was crazy! And when the guys started to climb up on top of each other, attempting to build... a human pyramid?! The crowd went ecstatic and we went ... speechless! It was so wild ! We could't believe it! What on earth was going on? This was new to us - freshly arrived expats...!
Now, we know. We know that today at midnight, Janmashtami, the birth of Lord Krishna, will be celebrated with songs, dances, pujas, with rocking the cradle of baby Krishna, with enthusiasm and devotion all over India. We know that we celebrate at midnight because it is said that Krishna was born on a dark, stormy night to end the rule of his vicious uncle, and that he is an incarnation of Vishnu.
I saw that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (indiatoday.in) greeted the nation in occasion of Janmashtami and said that the festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil:
- It should be an occasion to remind ourselves of Lord Krishna's eternal message of performing one's duty without any thought of the reward. May the festival bring happiness, peace and prosperity to the people.
And then - we are well prepared for the big commotion tomorrow! Govinda (or Dahi Handi) is a dramatic sport/game to celebrate the birth of Krishna. The players (the Govindas) gather to form a human tower so they can catch and brake a pot which is hung up high in the air. The stories say that Krishna was a naughty little boy, also stealing butter- so to recreate that -and for fun - my friend says. Many organizes teams for this, they train for it, and there are rewards involved. And every year casualties too unfortunately...
Well, if you are in Mumbai - look out for human pyramids tomorrow! I sure will!
PS: I had an interesting visit earlier this year- the celebration is really biiig there tonight at midnight!
I wish you a very Happy Janmashtami, dear reader:-)
One day, around this time last year, my son and I suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a dancing, drumming and cheering crowd of people! It was crazy! And when the guys started to climb up on top of each other, attempting to build... a human pyramid?! The crowd went ecstatic and we went ... speechless! It was so wild ! We could't believe it! What on earth was going on? This was new to us - freshly arrived expats...!
Now, we know. We know that today at midnight, Janmashtami, the birth of Lord Krishna, will be celebrated with songs, dances, pujas, with rocking the cradle of baby Krishna, with enthusiasm and devotion all over India. We know that we celebrate at midnight because it is said that Krishna was born on a dark, stormy night to end the rule of his vicious uncle, and that he is an incarnation of Vishnu.
I saw that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (indiatoday.in) greeted the nation in occasion of Janmashtami and said that the festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil:
- It should be an occasion to remind ourselves of Lord Krishna's eternal message of performing one's duty without any thought of the reward. May the festival bring happiness, peace and prosperity to the people.
And then - we are well prepared for the big commotion tomorrow! Govinda (or Dahi Handi) is a dramatic sport/game to celebrate the birth of Krishna. The players (the Govindas) gather to form a human tower so they can catch and brake a pot which is hung up high in the air. The stories say that Krishna was a naughty little boy, also stealing butter- so to recreate that -and for fun - my friend says. Many organizes teams for this, they train for it, and there are rewards involved. And every year casualties too unfortunately...
Well, if you are in Mumbai - look out for human pyramids tomorrow! I sure will!
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| Ready for this? (from indiashots.com) |
I wish you a very Happy Janmashtami, dear reader:-)
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