The festivals we celebrate mark celebrations of a special kind. They have been passed onto us from past generations and help us adhere to certain rules and customs of appeasing the deity. Merriment and togetherness is the soul of these festivals and the people celebrating them leave no stone unturned to make it a worthwhile affair. That’s why we are going to tell you some history behind the festival. We have included Christmas, Diwali, Valentine’s Day, Holi, New Year’s Day.
Let’s take a look at some major festivals celebrated globally, explore their meanings and their changing significance in this 21st century.
Christmas
The history behind the festival, Most people believe Christmas celebration is the celebration of the birth of Lord Jesus Christ; as the Holy Bible has said. In older times, the Christmas celebration included only a mass at the church, recitation of hymns and giving alms to the poor.
But with changing times, came changes to this auspicious day too. Suddenly, a new character was introduced; we popularly refer to him as Santa Claus. He is believed to have been the bishop of Myra in Turkey. Now in Christmas celebrations, we see Christmas tree with jingle bells be it schools, hotels, malls or markets, in nearly every country of the world.
He is said to have been very compassionate towards Children; it is in the 19th Century that America gave him the personality of a benevolent elderly person. We believe it’s a good thing, children love Christmas and celebrate it with full zeal and fervour. The only downside is Jesus Christ has been shifted into a secondary pedestal since Santa Claus steals all the attention. It is all good if people stay true to the lord and be happy with each other.
Diwali
Hindus in some regions of India also associate Diwali with the legend of Yama and Nachiketa on Kartika Amavasya (Diwali night). The Nachiketa story about right versus wrong, true wealth versus transient wealth, knowledge versus ignorance is recorded in Katha Upanishad composed in 1st millennium BC.
King Harsha in the 7th century Sanskrit play Nagananda mentions Deepavali as Deepapratipadutsava (Deepa = light, pratipada = first day, utsava = festival), where lamps were lit and newly engaged brides and grooms were given gifts. Rajasekhara referred to Deepavali as Dipamalika in his 9th century Kavyamimamsa, wherein he mentions the tradition of homes being whitewashed and oil lamps decorating homes, streets and markets in the night.
In the most famous version, Diwali is venerated as the return of Lord Rama with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman back to their kingdom Ayodhya after living in exile for 14 years and having achieved victory over the cruel asura king of Lanka, Ravana. This festival is generally celebrated as the victory of good over evil and the homecoming of a king back to his homeland.
Valentine’s Day
He was jailed for this and eventually died on 14th February 270 AD. Ever since the 14th century, this day became associated with love and people celebrated love in all its profoundness on this day.
In today’s scenario, however, Valentine’s Day has been reduced to a mere girlfriend-boyfriend love ritual. They meet, have dinner, exchange gifts and spend cosy time together. Most couples indulge in binge partying, meaningless one night stands and never really understand the meaning of this day.
They simply want to have fun. Sadly, the true essence of Valentine’s Day has been lost and it is now just a day where people buy roses at 10 times the price to gift their loved ones. Valentine’s Day is also taken as a festival for marketers to market love goods like Heart-shaped soft toys, teddy bears, etc. True love knows no special day, it is a forever process!
Holi
Holi, probably one of the most famous festivals all around the world. There is a symbolic legend to explain why Holi is celebrated as a ‘festival of colours’ and what is the history behind the festival? This festival is celebrated in the honour of Hindu Lord Vishnu and his ardent follower Prahlada. King Hiranyakashipu was king of demonic Asuras. He had five special powers: he could be killed by neither a human being nor an animal, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither at day nor at night, neither by Astra (projectile weapons) nor by any Shastra (handheld weapons), and neither on land nor in water or air. Eventually, he thought of himself as a God.
However, his son, Prahlada refused to worship his father and stayed devoted to Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu couldn’t bear this insult and made a plan to kill his son. Prahlada’s aunt Holika, tricked him into sitting on a pyre with her. She was wearing a cloak that made her immune to injury from fire, while Prahlada wasn’t. In the sudden turn of events, Holika’s cloak enveloped Prahlada and saved him from the raging fire, whereas Holika was burnt to ashes! This is considered as the win of good over evil. Holika is burnt every year since before holiday and the ritual is called Holika Dahan. Know more about Holi? Comment below!
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In another event, Vishnu took the form of Narasimha – half human and half lion, at dusk (when it was neither day nor night), took Hiranyakashyapu at a doorstep (which was neither indoors nor outdoors), placed him on his lap (which was neither land, water nor air), and then eviscerated and killed the king with his lion claws (which were neither a handheld weapon nor a launched weapon). It is still not clear as to why so many colours are used in Holi celebrations.
Festivals like Holi is also celebrated in different countries in another form, however, it is not known by the name holi but some other native name like La Tomatina festival of Spain.
New Year’s Day
The history behind the festival, Julius Caesar introduced his calendar called the Julian calendar in which he added 90 extra days to the year 46 B.C. to re-align it with the Sun’s position( it was later rectified many times to match the Gregorian calendar we follow now). In most civilizations, a new year is linked to a weather-related phenomenon or an agricultural harvest. Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year, in honour of Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future. Romans celebrated by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with one another, decorating their homes with laurel branches and attending parties.
Today’s modern world celebrates New Year’s Day with great fervour and enthusiasm. Common traditions include attending parties, eating special New Year’s foods, making resolutions for the new year, watching fireworks displays and singing songs to welcome the New Year, including the ever-popular “Auld Lang Syne” in many English-speaking countries In Spanish-speaking countries, people ingest a dozen grapes symbolizing their hopes for the coming 12 months.
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The practice of making resolutions for the New Year came from the ancient Babylonians, who made to earn the favour of the gods and start the year on a good note.
Even if these festivals of international value have undergone drastic changes due to modernity, they bind people together and promote a sense of brotherhood.
It is because of such merrymaking events that the mundane world still seems like a beautiful place to live in. You too should celebrate them with zeal and enthusiasm, after all, this life is small it’s up to us to make it large!