US Diary (14-Oct-2023)

Today is a rainy day with the sun hiding behind the rain clouds for most of the day. A day of full moon and solar eclipse.  Yesterday was a bright day. We drove to the Watchung park a bit early than usual. The park had a big lake in the centre surrounded by walkways. The lake also had a small dam with a few fountains. Sree and Preetha had their regular evening walk while I enjoyed the warmth of sun sitting on a bench and enjoying the surroundings. It was amusing to see the symbols of Halloween that were exhibited in the park.  Jack-O'-lantern, bats, witches, spiders, ghosts, skulls, skeletons, black cats and full moon are the symbols of Halloween festival. All kinds of spooky decorations are placed in front of the houses during this festive season. Halloween falls on the 31st of October every year. People are in a festive mood from the beginning of this month itself. One can see real/artificial big pumpkins (carved and uncarved) on the side of thresholds leading to the front door. Sculptures can be seen in the front yards of houses. It was dreadful to see man-sized skeletons at dusk in the dim light from the car while driving back from the park. I remember reading years ago that one purpose of celebrating the Halloween festival is to eradicate the evil and devils from this world.

This festival originated in Europe 2000 years ago. Then it was named as "Samhain (pronounced as 

sow-win), a time when the spirits of the dead mingled with the living. In America, it is being celebrated, for more than 1000 years now. Irish and Scottish immigrants brought this custom to America. It is believed that the souls of the dead returned to their homes on this day. There are several scary Halloween movies which are wholly modern.

This festival was originally a religious observance, later on, it became secular over the centuries. In olden days, this was celebrated for two days on 31st October and 1st November. At present, it is celebrated only on 31st October.  The Christians were celebrating 1st November of every year as "All Saints' Day" and the previous day as "All Saints' Eve" which were also known as "All Hallows' day" and "All Hallows' Eve" respectively. This name was shortened to Halloween eventually. This festival was to welcome the harvest and the coming of winter in those days.  It may be interesting to know that Halloween is spreading to Asia and is being celebrated in India for the last few years.

There is a story behind Halloween festival. According to an Irish mythology, Jack who was stingy used to play tricks on others. Once his target was the devil. He tricked the devil twice and, on both occasions, he freed the devil on condition that the devil would not claim his soul. However, when Jack died, he did not get entry to heaven as God did not allow him.  Upset by the tricks Jack played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, the devil restricted Jack from entering hell as well.  The devil then sent him off to the dark night with only a burning coal to light the way. The legend goes on that Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the earth with it ever since and people started referring him to as "Jack of the Lantern" or simply "Jack O' Lantern". It became a tradition in Ireland and Scotland to carve scary faces into turnips and potatoes and place them on windows or near doors to frighten devils and evil spirits like the roaming 'Stingy Jack'.  The Irish and Scottish immigrants when they came to America started using pumpkins which are available in plenty over here instead of the turnips.

Children and poor people, dressed in Halloween costumes, with a Jack -O' lantern in their hands visit houses in their neighborhood areas asking, "trick or treat", in short for "Give me a treat or I will play a trick on you". They are asking this for a candy (historically, soul cakes). Prayers for the departed ones also are a part of this festival. Children dress up in frightening costumes with demonic faces to frighten away the wandering souls. By disguising, they expect not to be recognised by the souls. Bonfire also was a part of this festival. Now a days electrical bon fire can be seen in many yards. It was interesting for me to read and understand about Halloween from different internet resources. Incidentally, I also came across the festival of "Simchat/Simhat Torah" a Jewish holiday of dancing and singing (Oct 7th and 8th of 2023) when the yearly cycle of Torah reading is completed and when no work, writing, commerce or travel is permitted. 

At this time, I am also reminded of "Navarathri pooja" also known as "Saraswathi pooja" or "Aayudha pooja" which is being celebrated for nine days in my motherland, India from fourteenth to twenty forth October for this year.  The story behind this pooja seems to have a similarity with Halloween and Simchat Torah. Goddess Durga fought with the most powerful demon "Mahishasura", a bundle of all bad things in the world. The fight lasted for nine days, and Durga finally severed his head on the last day bringing victory over evil. The last day of pooja is therefore celebrated as "Vijaya dasamy" ("Vijayam means victory). The two days prior to "Vijayadasamy", are celebrated as "Durgastamy" and "Mahanavamy" on which the fighting grew fierce and was at its peak.

People all over India celebrate these nine days pooja in a grand manner. During these nine days people worship the Goddess in three forms. During the first three days as "Durga matha", who fights evil and finish it off entirely and spread "Santhi" all over the universe. The second three days are for Mahalakshmi, the Goddess who showers prosperity to the entire world. And the last three days, people worship "Ma Saraswathy" the Goddess of "Ghyanam" (i.e. universal knowledge, whether it is arts, science or spiritual all over the world). The devotees all over the world trust that the Almighty take different forms to curb "adharma" (injustice) and bring forth "dharma" (all virtues) to the Universe. 

The word "Navam" (in "Navarathri pooja") means "new" or "nine". This festival is celebrated for nine days, and it creates a world order with renewed peace, prosperity and knowledge. Books and knowledge are considered as weapons (Aayudham) to fight with the difficulties in life for students. Likewise, books on Epics like Ramayana, Bhagavatham, Bhagavath Geetha and Narayaneeyam help and guide elders to solve problems in life. These resources are placed in bundles in front of the idols of Goddess and worshipped during these three days. On the "Vijayadashami" day randomly selected sections from these books are read in front of the Goddess. Vehicles are decorated with garlands of flowers after offering poojas in front of temples, on "Vijayadasami" day. The temples are crowded with devotees as all kinds of arts like dancing, singing etc. are performed in front of the deity during these days. Thus, these nine days are celebrated to show gratitude to the Goddess for making the world peaceful by fighting and winning over all bad virtues and for the new beginning. 

I came back to the present from my dream world, when Sree and Preetha approached me after their evening walk. As the parking lot was quite a distance away, I took it as my exercise and evening walk for today. On the way back, Preetha showed me a flock of Canadian Geese, migratory birds from the north of US, happily feeding on the earthworms in the park. 

On the way back home, I noticed a spacious compound, with many big flower bushes of different colours shaped as beautiful bouquets arranged in a very big tray like pattern. I couldn't help exclaiming "Hai, what a beautiful garden!". It was in front of the Town office buildings. Sree turned his car to that yard. Many other buildings were there. The town hall and local library were amongst them. We clicked a few snaps from there. Sree went to the library and got his membership renewed. In the middle of the yard, stood a black stone sculpture, presented in the form of several sheets of paper from a book with many names carved on those sheets. Preetha said that they were names of victims killed in the 911 tragedy. Memory of the cruel event made me so sad. I prayed for the unknown victims and left the place to reach home by 6 PM. I spent my time reading while Sree went for shopping and Preetha got busy with other household chores. That is all for this day.