The Holiday Season

We have been in the midst, since the day I arrived in Mhaswad, of the holiday Ganpati (pronounced gun-paw-tee). I can’t profess to understand completely what the holiday is about, but the general gist is this: it was created during the independence movement 60+ years ago with the intention of uniting the very fractious colony and fostering a sense of nationalism. The ten-day celebration heralds Ganesh, a favorite Hindu god in Western India (especially among children), and for a short interval of time, his sister Gouri (gow-r-di). Painted plaster of Paris figurines are decorated like idols in nearly every home, with trays of snacks and fruit placed before them and strings of lights and colorful fabric framing the alter. For ten days, businesses and families blare pounding music day and night from outdoor speakers, and statues of Ganesh are paraded proudly from larger cities (where they must be purchased) to smaller towns and villages by groups of young/teenage boys (usually members of a boys club). The celebration ensues very differently for men and women, as well as for cities and villages. In Pune, the largest close city to Mhaswad, huge, elaborate and corporate-sponsored Ganpati alters are housed in cloth tents throughout the city. The music is louder, the nighttime celebrations more raucous, and dancing in the street more common for men, women and children alike. In Mhaswad, the men celebrate more publicly and the women more privately. The men parade the statues around, dance in drum circles and essentially make as much noise as possible. In a village, none of that is appropriate for a woman to partake in (bummer:). The women, especially when Gouri is celebrated with her brother Ganesh, invite other women into their homes to receive painted bindis (the forehead dot), admire their Gouri displays (also a plaster of Paris idol), and sit and eat the sweet snacks laid before the alter. As you leave, you’re given a teaspoon of sugar to eat, and generally some fruit. After visiting the home of an employee at our NGO, Brenna (another intern) and I were invited, on our walk home, to nearly 15 other homes along the way. That is A LOT of sugar to eat, and more fruit and snacks than one can handle. It’s pretty wonderful though, and served as a fantastic introduction to and tour of Mhaswad when I first arrived.

Today (happily), is the last day of pounding music and sugar overloads. The last day of Ganpati happens to coincide with the close of monsoon season. The Gouri and Ganesh idols are ceremoniously floated down the river, usually by the loud and dominating presence of the groups of men who bought them, at midnight. As the figures float towards the sea and gradually dissolve, the hope is that Ganesh will return the next year with enough rains to nourish their farms.

So, that essentially is Ganpati! Mhaswad has been living and breathing this holiday since the day I arrived, so it’ll be interesting to see the village climate in its wake. I’m looking forward to quieter nights….luckily my host family are quiet people, content to hang a picture of Ganesh on their wall and leave the noise pollution to their neighbors.