My husband's family is Hindu. I don't
consider myself a very religious person, but today is a special Hindu
holiday, Karwa Chauth.
It is one of those holidays, which it's
hard for me to tell whether it is a very cute holiday, or a little
bit degrading towards women?
However, in the big scheme of things,
many holidays have both an endearing side and a somewhat degrading/shadow side – especially American ones, on one hand being a very
pleasant experience- surrounded with friends and family, and the other- the
shadow of it all, is that mostly they have become huge commercial
operations.. Only furthering the pollution and oppression in our
world. Unless the family celebrating is one of a kind and spends these days
volunteering or donating money to worthy causes instead of buying
into the whole consumerism package. I remember Christmas as a kid,
being the most joyful day of the year.. apart from my birthday. And
now, the one thing I look forward to, is being with family.. yet I
dread presents! I dread getting presents and I dread buying
presents. I just feel it goes against all of my values. In the past
I have chosen not to purchase things.. and that doesn't feel nice,
because I ended up getting all of these gifts, and had nothing to
give in return. Other times, I have donated large sums of money to
different charities, and told my family and friends about it. But I
guess that doesn't always feel the best either, because for some
reason we have it in our minds that giving gifts, is the way we show
our love.
Which is a little strange that our love should depend on what materials we buy for each other. And I also hate the feeling of
forcing my values onto others- not celebrating, not buying other's gifts for the sake of not supporting consumerism. And how to tell a child that you
gave a gift to someone else for his sake?
Maybe it's okay, it could just be my
ego that I'm working with, and my upbringing in the states.
I guess a third alternative is to make
gifts. Unfortunately I am no knitter, or crafts maker.. but maybe
that's just a story. I am good at baking! Another option could be
to buy gifts from local craftsmen, who harvest their material
sustainably, and no unnecessary packaging is involved. One could
easily spend a fortune on something like christmas, buying all of
their gifts like that. But the overall world's benefit I guess would outweigh the
cost.
Today in India, is the holiday for the
women to keep fasts for their husbands. The idea is that the fast
will help them have a strong relationship together.
My family here, keeps asking me, are
you going to do it? I keep replying, I don't know. I've never
really made an intention before to completely fast for a whole day
before.. for someone else!
I've tried fasting in the past, but
usually what happens, is things are fine, until later in the day, and
I get really headachy or cranky, then I find myself eating fruit or
what not.
My husband is sweet though, he says if
I fast, he will also fast.
But I feel the weight scale is a little
uneven in this festival. Either, lol in my opinion of it all, there
should be a holiday where the man should also fast for the woman. Or
today should actually be about both parties fasting for each other.
I don't understand that the weight is entirely on the woman. Seems
strange to me, but again, I grew up in a feminist household. :)
None the less, I am in India and it
seems all the women in my family are doing this, so I might as well
try too! Currently it's only 10:00am, I am feeling hungry. The
strictest followers of this holiday won't even drink water. That's
where I'm drawing the line. I will drink water, and I'll see how far
in the day I make it. I should be fine.
We'll see how it goes!
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