1. Family Tradition
All religious festivals evolve as mechanisms to propitiate the gods and celebrate their divine actions, but they also serve a social purpose and in the process offer a good insight into the cultural and social dynamics of a community. McKim Marriott, on observing the village of Kishan Garhi through ordinary routines and also during the festival of Holi, sees a complete contrast in the behavior and interactions of the members.
However, it is unique in that it also gives the people license to temporarily discard the roles they play in an otherwise strictly ordered and stratified society and assume different ones - a process of reversal.
In his article "The Feast of Love", Marriott describes the "tightly ranked and compartmentalized order" observed by the villagers in terms of a social and economic hierarchy. On the basis of relative pollution and purity, the village was separated into castes and the conditions of intercaste interactions were clearly defined. The subordinacy of the women to the men in generic relationships as well as husband-wife interactions.
was equally stressed and the servility and deference of the women to all males senior to them was expected at all levels. As the structural anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss commented on India, "it is a country where the cultural tradition encourages every individual to behave like a king in relation to somebody else.there is a traditional order of things which have to be respected". It is this order of things which is abandoned during Holi to provide every person with the opportunity to experience the "realm of the Other": the powers and privileges (or relative lack thereof) of a different class of the village community. In this reversal of roles, the lower castes mingle freely with the upper ones and acquire the liberty to play pranks on their social superiors. Women armed with sticks become the aggressors and are indiscriminate in their domination, whether it be beating their own husbands or any male member of the village.
The second tradition is the "Holi in Imphal". The Holi or color festival is traditionally celebrated in Northern India for a day or two, but has a special significance in Imphal. ... I visualize that this traditional celebration of Holi, dating back hundreds of years, has a lot of meaning. ...
The three main festivals of Hinduism are: Holi, Divali, and Dasehra. Holi is the most popular festival. ... "Holi is dedicated to god Krishna and it was once a fertility ceremony (104)." Throughout the days of Holi, many of the casts and taboo restrictions are set aside and pleasure is emphasized. ...
There are festivals like Diwali-the festival of light, Navratri-the festival of traditional dance, Holi-the festival of color and many more. On the day of Holi, everyone young and old, regardless of caste and status in society are dressed in white. ...
I still remember the day I left India. I was sixteen years old at that time.In the morning I woke up by the hustle and bustle of all relatives. Our flight was not till the evening, yet everyone was still there. It was just like a mela (Indian fair). I could see everyone laughing and have fun, but I ...
Very dedicated Hindu's would visit the temple weekly on Sundays or everyday, but most Hindu's visited the temple on sacred occasions such as the passing away of a loved one and festivals such as holi (festival of colour) and deepawali (festival of lights). ...
First subject that I would like to touch upon is the origin of these two religions. Hinduism is a religion that is followed by more than 650 million people in India and 100 million in the rest of the world. The word 'Hindu' was the name that was given to the people who lived east of the river Indus;...
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As soon as man breaks out of his mothers womb and emerges from the ruins of his sweet infantile world he sees around him a complex world with rich dialects, resplendent art, diverse ideas and beliefs and fascinating rituals and ceremonies. From his nascent life the child emulates his surrounding an...