In my obliviousness, I almost scheduled a meetup today. [Is it my fault that I celebrated Hanukkah more than Diwali as a kid?] To atone for this earlier oversight, therefore, I bring you the official Diwali greeting from the government of Canada:
“On behalf of Canada’s new government, I would like to extend my warmest greetings and best wishes to members of the Indo-Canadian community as you celebrate Diwali… Every year, this joyous occasion is celebrated by some one billion people of the Hindu, Sikh and Jain faiths around the world. And that includes some one million of our fellow citizens right here in Canada. Friends, as you gather with your loved ones amid a sea of flickering flames, please know that the thoughts of our government are with you. Over the years, the Indo-Canadian community has made a tremendous contribution to our great country. Your work ethic and commitment to family and community serve as an inspiration to all…Happy Diwali to all. Namaste. Sat Sri Akal. Thank you.” [Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada]
Why Canada? Well, Ottawa is closer to North Dakota than Washington DC is, but mainly it’s because Google News brought it to my attention, whereas I had to go rooting around for the American counterpart.
Not to be outdone by their neighbors up north, the White House celebrated Diwali with a party for the fourth year running, although Bush was away and so sent a written greeting instead. Here’s a description of the event:
The White House celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights, in the historic Indian Treaty Room in the Old Executive Building for the fourth successive year. More than 150 guests were in attendance, among them many prominent members of the Indian American community. President George W Bush, who was busy campaigning for his besieged Republican Party in Pennsylvania and Virginia, however failed to be there.Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes keynoted the event as chief guest, and Jay Hein, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, lit the diya. [Link]
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p>BTW, I’m pretty sure that’s the “Native American treaty room” and not the “Brownz treaty room” but I’ll take what we can get especially since Diwali did not merit an official proclamation unlike “Leif Erikson Day, 2006“, “General Pulaski Memorial Day, 2006“, “Gold Star Mother’s Day, 2006” or “National Character Counts Week, 2006“. But who am I to complain – the White House at least knew when Diwali is!
Related posts: A stamp of approval, White House celebrates Diwali, In Barbie’s Closet
UPDATE:
I realize I may not have been clear enough about this originally. The President was unable to attend Diwali celebrations at the White House in part because he was campaigning for Senator Allen’s re-election bid:
President Bush last week helped raise money in two of the year’s most controversial re-election campaigns, stumping for Republican Rep. Don Sherwood in Pennsylvania and Sen. George Allen in Virginia. [Link]
Saal Mubarak to all the Gujjus on SM 🙂
40,000 people were estimated to have attended the Diwali celebrations in Leicester (United Kingdom) this year, at what was apparently the largest gathering for Diwali outside India. Main BBC article here.
Supplementary BBC News article with 22 photos of this year’s celebrations in Leicester.
Hmm. I wished someone brown, Happy Diwali this weekend and she politely responded by saying she is a Christian. I thought it was similar in tone to what Anna wrote in her comments about Diwali not being her new year. When someone wishes me Merry Christmas, I never recall myself saying “oh, I am a Hindu but thank you.” I just wish Merry Christmas back. I just thought it is odd.
I must note that when i send holiday cards, i send “Merry Christmas” greetings to all my christian friends – of whatever color and send “Happy Holidays” greetings to other friends and family globally. I find the the United Nations “Season Greetings” card with world art covers work out the best for the Holiday season. That way you don’t wish someone what they don’t celebrate.
I don’t- If someone says “Merry Christmas” I will say “I don’t celebrate Christmas, I’m Muslim- thanks.” Goes into a huge conversation, religous tolerance, awareness, etc… But, if they season’s greetings, then I will say that back. It’s a little thing, I know- But it’s the little things that help us cling to our cultural and religious identity.
And who wants to do that except for program review committees and campaigning politicos?
I assume they weren’t vegetarians usually…
There’s something to be said about being able to walk out on the street in your festive attire and doing your festive things and everyone knowing what exactly you are upto – independent of which culture we’re talking about.
Can’t imagine Yama needing any protection from hell :). Came to know recently that Yami came to the earth as the river Yamuna.
I don’t care if a criminal and child murderer like Bush comes anywhere near a Diwali celebration. The fact that he stands with racist Allen’s failing campaign says it all.
Just with layman’s observation, I would say Indians (mostly Hindus from India) are lot more relaxed about celebrating “other faith” celebrations than followers of other religions/faiths in America or elsewhere in the world.
In India, it is not uncommon to find a Christmas party (in metros) where 100% of the people are mostly Hindus and some muslims including the host. You find people of various faiths intermingling at each other’s celebrations. So saying Merry Christmas or Eid Mubarak comes very easy. Maybe here in the US we are so caught up in our “identity” issues that even these simple things in life become tasks to be analyzed and thought over.
(And if pardesi gori is for real, i think she is cool)
miss newbie: i agree with you… i wish them a merry xmas back… heck i was born near xmas time and they delivered me to my mom for the first time in a xmas stocking.. and i still have the stocking and used it as a child growing up..we had the tree, gifts, and i mail out seasons greeting/xmas cards every year.. it’s a festive, cheery season, that i adore…i’ve been to xmas mass with a friend.. although i’m hindu.. i have learned a lot by learning from others who believe different things..
taz: i believe that wishing people a happy rosh hashanah, eid, diwali, kwanza, whatever is fantastic, even though you may not share the same culture… i’ve had xmas dinner at a christian friends home to going to a konkyokyo ceremony with the japanese… i don’t think it helps you cling to your identity it any better if you say ‘merry xmas’ back.. yes, if they ask you do you celebrate it, you can say ‘no’.. but if you’re comfortable in what you believe in , your culture….it will never take away from you or your identity… we live in a multiracial, ethnic, cultural melee..the united colors of benetton experience happening in real time and in real life..
Well said Madame Garbanzo.
We celebrated Christmas in my school in Gujarat. Since we weren’t a catholic school, we didn’t get Christmas break (we had 3 weeks for Diwali), but all religious holidays were observed. Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, etc. Probably one of the reasons why summer breaks were barely over a month long, so many holidays during the academic year.
As a matter of fact, we were encouraged to bring miniature chirstmas trees to class as a part of the celebration. I took apart a branch from a hedge once, trimmed it and put bling on it.
Personally, I think it’s a bit rude if someone comes up and wishes you with positive intentions in their heart, to not wish them back. If someone says “Merry Christmas”, you can always respond with a broad smile responding “And a happy holidays to you, too”, if one is uncomfortable with the religious element. Cultural identity is interesting, considering that there is subcontinental Christians (and history).
I think you might have misunderstood Anna’s comment, newbie, she’s been very warm at accepting Diwali greetings—she was just explaining she can accept them, despite it not being her holiday. But I would try to respect it if she didn’t want to. As one friend says, “It stops being a gift if there’s a strong obligation to use it.” Same for cheers and good wishes.
Floridian, I totally just found out about the Dawat Puja a few months ago and got crazy excited—-it sounds incredibly cool and perfect for, you know, a journalist, but too much to celebrate. Can’t do it all. 😀
Sigh. Thanks, Saheli-kutty, for getting my six.
Newbie: A N N A’s “away” message on GChat is (and has been, for the last three days) “Shubh Deepa-vali“, so she is definitely being misunderstood. It’s sad that I have to declare it, but I’m not this evil person who’d shoot someone down when they were kind enough to wish me something sweet. Similarly, I understand and am very protective of sentiments like those Taz offered. Neither she nor I are trying to be hurtful.
NB: That hyphen is there on purpose btw, in honor of a very precious friend who is missed and who had to argue her first motion with less than a day’s notice. Or something. My goodness all that legal shtuff sounds hot. 😉
awwwww – aren’t you the sweet? Incidentally, that’s my GCHat message too 🙂
mastervk:
Yeah that’s it! Thanks, mastervk 🙂
Kurma:
Pretentious upper caste people? Heh 🙂 There could be lots of reasons, actually…
I am, but they’re not. Still, none of them would never dream of being anywhere near meat on any other pooja day.
Right, it’s another way of saying “I exist too, and I’m not like you, so please don’t assume that I am, and, from the bottom of my heart, have a happy [x celebration].” I don’t usually do this if it’s a quick greeting, but if someone takes the time to really wish me a happy something-I-don’t-celebrate, I’ll take the time to tell them why I don’t celebrate it.
P.S. Speaking of cultural assumptions…
:-O That one caught me off guard. Then I remembered that Anna doesn’t speak Hindi 🙂
Indeed, I do not. 🙂 To me, that’s a Malayalam term of endearment, for very special girls. Although when my Father used it, he used the masculine form since I was the son he never wanted and never had, i.e. “Chakkara Kuttan“.
In my relentless quest to shove Malayalam right there next to Hindi as a possible lingua franca of the Sepia diaspora, I forgot “kutty” has a different meaning up North. 😉
Relentless and very successful, I might add. Bravo Anna :). I almost don’t crack-up when I see the word “k*ndi” these days.
What does Kutty mean in hindi anyway ? Oh I’m sorry.. I just googled (“current site”) — anyway that’s Kutthi/Kuttha (atleast the way I transliterate) so no worries about embarassment.
Means “dog”.
For a second I considered maybe Anna was trying to be G about it. Like, “Yo whas crackin’ Saheli-dog?” Somehow it just didn’t fly 🙂
Yes, I realized that’s what you meant at the end of my comment but then I’d transliterate it something like “Kuththi”. And that discussion’s been had before.
Anna: My post was not supposed to specific to you even though i used your comment to make my point. I should have explained that. I understand that in the US, the issue of identity is a sensitive one.
I have a friend who makes it a point not to put up Christmas tree in his house so that his kids can differentiate between their faith festivals and other festivals that they don’t celebrate. However they do wish their neighbors Merry Christmas. There is difference between greeting and celebrating. But I do know other families who feel compelled to celebrate Christmas because all their neighbors do and they don’t want the kids to feel left out. In american context, its hard to figure out who is more correct.
Anyway I don’t want to beat this to death. And its Mr. Newbie and not Miss Newbie unless there is a lady on this board with the same moniker. I will change mine if that is the case.
oops.. sorry mr. newbie
More specifically, a female dog.
I wouldn’t have appreciated Anna& Taz’s sentiment while in India. But being in america, I have come to see that they have a point. I might take the same approach someday. You really have to experience life as both majority & minority to see where they are coming from.
I doubt. Right wing nut jobs make the same argument abt american and christians. I think it has more to do with whether you are a majority/minority or how much your culture is under threat. I had a Hindu friend who was born in Baghdad and grew up in both Iraq & Sudan and came over to India when he was ~16yrs. He claimed they were the nicest and most accomadating people on earth. People always made sure there is something veggie for them. Needless to say, I had hard time believing him.
Isn’t the ‘t’ in ‘kutty’ pronounced as ‘t’ in temple, rather than ‘th’ in kutthi ?
This is true to a large extent.
Xmas trees with ornaments and lights in hindu homes in metro India can be seen.
Hi Shruti: So your family is from Bihar, you celebrate Dawat Puja and eat meat on certain religious occasions, including Holi I am sure. I would wager that you are an ambashtha kayastha. This sub-caste, to which I proudly belong due to an accident of birth, is quite different than other kayasthas. We are big meat eaters, which could have been a result of our long association as scribes and accountants with the muslim rulers. A more plausible explanation seems to be that ambashthas were mostly urban, with much weaker links to rural India where traditional Hindu dietary laws were, and still are, more strict. I find the urban theory still quite true. Most of my relatives do not have any ancestral property and agricultural land in villages. Our base has been the towns and cities of Eastern India.
Anyway, I just got back from Dawat Puja at one of our friends’ homes. Technically I am not supposed to be typing today, because typing is nothing but modern writing, which is not permitted on Dawat Puja day. But hey, we are ambashthas! I think I am going to look for that bottle of single malt and maybe put some chicken on the grill. Cheers!
The 14-year old is busy doing homework, even though she was permitted to goof off today. These Amriki schools!
Floridian: Was this permission granted from her parents or her teachers? I’m curious…
From her parents, who tend to get nostalgic about some of the old world customs and want to impart a little of it to their ABD.
Naturally! From a teacher’s perspective, it’s difficult (although I make a valiant attempt, I think) to be aware of and sensitive to my kids’ religious and familial obligations unless they tell me. Like I said above, I plan to take the day off myself next year.
Yup, we’re Patna kayasthas and we do all that.
I always figure (unintelligently) that anything about my family that strikes me as “non-Hindu” must have been Mughal influence. The meat thing is definitely a Mughal influence though. I’m begning to suspect that Biharis (esp eastern, urban, upper caste Biharis) are a unique product of an odd mix of cultures. I mean, all cultures are, but you know what I mean…
My parents resigned themselves to the obligations of these Amriki schools, but I just pretended to be religious and didn’t do the homework anyway.
Tamasha, I think you gotta guage it organically. I went to a predominantly East Asian elementary school, and I remember the faculty being pretty good about East Asian customs. There would still be school on Chinese New Year (for legal reasons, of course) but the teachers didn’t make the kids do any real work (and were esp careful about not making the Chinese kids use scissors, etc). Just a round of show and tell and little activities to make the other kids aware of what was going on.
since it’s the guju’s bestu varash..happy saal mubarakh, happy eid..and of course how can we forget that today is mole day? for crying out loud it’s 10/23!!! listen and learn, especially fun for the chemistry geeks/lovers/nerds out there.. i listened to this on NPR and smiled and giggled..ahh…the mole…
we used to celebrate mole day at my high school! the chemistry students would bring in mole-related projects, like t-shirts and board games. my partner and i made a gingerbread house town full of graham crackers, candy and chocolate and we named the town “moleville.” ah, good times…
vaishnavi: that sounds awesome…very jealous of your holy moley good times 😉
Um, Chick Pea, we’re two legumes in a pod. I sent out more Mole Day greetings than Diwali greetings. I’m such a nerd.
Shruti:
That was the case with me too, and it will be next year, for work. Although maybe I shouldn’t advertise that…
thanks for the reminder you all. a belated happy diwali, and a prosperous new year. Who’s up for some kaju barfi (my fav from kid-hood for divali).
And before i forget, an eid mubarak to you all as well(I fasted three times this season, I do state proudly and am primed for the kaju barfi inhale session) .
i adore nerds miss tamasha (yes i’m a super geek as well).. we’re two nerdy peas in the pods of this world.. ;)..awesomeness.. nothing wrong with that..
sending out mole day greetings? you are my hero of the day.. remember to send me one next year.. (chuckle..)
96-98. I learned something new. Thanks. It’s new year for Maharashtrians as well. Today is Padva. Women get gifts / money from their husbands. In some homes sons also pitch in.
99. Safed means white in urdu-hindi and sveta means white in sanskrit. Gori/Gauri means golden. Don’t want to be trollish but do you have a reference that says gori/gauri means golden in Sanskrit? Shweta (not sveta) means white. Gaura means fair (as in light not reasonable). The word karpuragaura from Shiva-Parvati prayer comes tom mind. Meaning fair/white as camphor.
I have studied Sanskrit a bit and never came across this usage (which doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist). I am curious.
The word karpuragaura from Shiva-Parvati prayer comes to
mmind. Damn typos.The meaning of Gaura: “White, yellowish, reddish, pale red, shining, brilliant, clean, beautiful, white, yellowish,” . . .(and a whole bunch of stuff about pale mustard, a kind of rice, a kind of bufalo, the moon, etc..It’s Sanskrit, after all) — from “A Sanskrit-English Dictionary” by Sir. M. Monier Williams, published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. Agrees with the definition from “The Practical (!) Sanskrit-English Dictionary” by Vaman Shivram Apte, same publishers. Agrees with the definition of the same word in Bengali in the Bengali dictionary of the Sahitya Academy.
Hi, Wish you all a Happy Diwali and happy Eid. This is probably my first comment on this blog. About the new year discussion, no, Diwali does not mark the beginning of the new year for all communities in India. Tamilians and Malayalis, for example, along with the Assamese and Punjabis, have their New Year around mid-April. Maharashtrians have ‘Gudi Padva’ along with the Kannada and Telugu ‘Ugadi’ around March. Also, one of the stories surrounding Diwali is that Krishna is believed to have slayed the demon, Narakasura, on Narakachaturdashi (‘chaturdashi’ being the fourteenth day of the lunar fortnight before the New Moon day), one of the days of Diwali. On this day, whoever bathes before sunrise, is believed to get the benefit of bathing in the holy Ganga as the said river goes to everybody’s water sources before dawn. Not all communities perform ‘Lakshmi Puja’ or celebrate ‘Dhanteras’, either. Many of us Tamilians only celebrate the Narakachaturdashi day although the festivities go on before and after the main day.
So Pardesi Gori may be right, ‘gauri’ and ‘gori’ may be related words after all…hmm!
I am right Amitabh, it means “fair skinned” in general.
Coming late to the discussion, but I had to shout out to Ennis, who would fit right in at our family gatherings, where just about everyone can recite the Japji Sahib or the Shema, or both…
i remember mole day in high school! we had to create moles (the animals), and be able to separate pieces of the animal … to get 1/2 a mole, etc…
i don’t remember a damn thing about chemistry but i can never forget making that mole!
Re #73: As Amitabh says, Gori and Gauri are two entirely different words, with different spelling and different pronunciation (not to sound snobbish, but to conflate the two pronunciations is a little ‘uneducated’ 😉 )
As far as I know, Gori just means ‘fair’ (by extension ‘white’ or ‘foreign’) and certainly not ‘golden.’ Perhaps you’re thinking of ‘soniye’ etc. meaning ‘golden.’
Ms Fink Nottle
Can you give me an example in literature of gori and gauri being spelled differently in hindi?
Both of the meanings are used in modern hindi literature, and I’ve seen the same spelling for both. Both are used to mean fair skinned. Most of the pardesi/videsis/firangis/foriegners that are called “gora/gori” are indeed fair skinned.
omg i missed Mole Day!!! 🙁
And I missed saying Happy Diwali to everyone too since I haven’t checked Sepia Mutiny in a while…. so a belated Happy Diwali…still wish you happiness and prosperity… and Eid Mubarak to all as well 🙂
Golden comes into play in bengali literature, especially of the Chaitanyaite tradition. And also in sanskrit regarding Radha and other goddesses, in the context of gaura meaning golden.
I think you can download a bengali to english version of the Chaitanya Charitamrita online to check my reference.
The South Indian new years are all different… Vishu for Malyalis, Ugadi for Andhras, etc. (I only remember the names of these two because I’m half of each). And they fall on different days close to each other so I got to have a lot of new clothes growing up! Divali is not the New Year in South India. Also is less of a big deal than in the North. But it’s kind of like Hannukkah or Christmas here, even though those are not the most religiously important holidays they have become the most culturally important, so it seems like Divali has become the desi version of Hannukkah. We cleaned our house, wore new clothes, ate lots of sweets, and burned firecrackers made by children in Sivakasi to celebrate Divali http://www.hindu.com/2003/10/10/stories/2003101007160100.htm
Hi PG,
In light of what you say, I’m certainly going to make enquiries about this gori/gauri thing. :).
“Gori” is spelled with ‘one line’ on top of the ‘o’ (sounds close to o as in ‘oh’)in Hindi, and “Gauri” with two lines on top of the ‘o’ (sounds closer to ‘ow’ OR ‘awe’). I don’t have examples from literature…I bet I could pull ’em out if I could use devanagari on google, but my old computer doesn’t do well with non-Roman scripts 🙁 )
See the Vowels table o = GO-ri au = GAU-ri
Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi share Devnagri script and have quite a few “flexible” words. Miss Fink Nottle and Amitabh are referring to common usage, I think. In that sense Gori and Gauri are not interchangeable. Gori: fair skinned female Gauri: Proper noun or the godess Gauri
No one says “gauri ladki” or refers to the goddess as “Gori”.
Saheli has covered the golden business quite well here.
My two paisas. I’m out. Peace.