This week was fairly uneventful, with the exception of my first trip to McDonalds and Krishna Janmashtami. The McDonalds wasn't bad...but I don't think I'll be going there again any time soon.
Krishna Janmashtami, the celebration of Krishna's birth, on the other hand, was an amazing experience. We started out our night by visiting the local temple - I had no idea what I was in for. The dark streets were illuminated by lights hanging from every possible surface, and the temple seemed to glow in a different way altogether. Looking around, it reminded me of a carnival - all the decoration, lights, and dramatics...
We walked barefoot through the gates and followed a long, winding carpet to the entrance of the smaller temple, where we received a blessing and a small red mark on our foreheads. There were large bells hanging in each room and doorway: each person rings the bell to wake up the gods. Outside the temples on the lawn were children dressed in elaborated costumes and makeup as the different Hindu gods (a lot of the boys had fake beards painted on them). They struggled to sit still, attempting to hold their divine poses...
We stayed for a while to watch a children's dance performance, something sort of like a Christmas Pageant, using music and dance to tell the stories of Krishna.
Later that night, we went to a neighbor’s house for another celebration. They had built a temporary addition onto their house just for Krishna Janmashtami! Inside, red and purple drapes covered the walls, and the two new rooms had red cushions covering the floor. As we explored deeper into the house, we discovered a group of people playing live music next to a large altar-like area decorated with flowers, vines, and figures of the gods. Krishna sat in the center on a swing/cradle that was almost fully enveloped by vines; on every wall there were huge framed paintings of Krishna and the other gods.
We found space near the front and all sat together, cross-legged. For the two hours leading up to midnight, we clustered together listening to the beautiful music, humming and clapping along.
As 12 o’clock approached, everyone stood up and flower petals were distributed to us - my friends and I stood close together, anxiously clutching the petals, unsure of what to do next. A group of men stood up front, chanting a song none of us could understand. When they stopped singing, a wave of movement erupted, shoving all of us forward towards Krishna. We held on to each other, pushing others aside (that isn’t rude here), and made our way up to the cradle. As we moved, I noticed two men carrying silver trays filled with hard, plastic toys. Little trucks, little tractors, bikes, etc. Without warning they began to throw these toys into the crowd! I ducked and covered my face as they flew through the air.
People both young and old, held their arms outstretched, ready to receive the little vehicles.
After each person had thrown their flower petals onto the swinging Krishna, the room began to clear out as everyone made their way back home.
Being a Christian myself, I constantly try to compare and translate what I see into what I’m familiar with. I love learning about other religions, but I am still much more naive than I want to be. I’m not sure if my ethnocentric attempts to understand my new surroundings are human nature or narrow-minded. I’m working on simply observing what I see rather than constantly trying to fit things into familiar categories in my head. I’m slowly learning how to take each uncomfortable, unfamiliar, unknown day as it comes...and I think I finally understand how much of a privilege that is.
Besides, what’s an adventure without a little mystery?
