The Week of so much Excitement

Aluna Festival is my first festival here in India. It is a busy week for the schools and the community. We have had excitement in more ways than one. From feeling faint due to lack of food to dancing the night away underneath the star filled Bajipura sky.

The festival began with a mendhi competition at the school. This was a great kick off for the festival. There is no greater way to celebrate than to adorn one’s arms in the intricate art of mendhi. The students are truly artists. Somehow they manipulate a small tube of paste to create small wonders. They do not take time to deliberate about the design it just simply flows from their hands.

This is no week to be shy about beauty. Teacher and students are all wearing mendhi on their hands, arms , and feet. Also girls are wearing their most fancy dresses and teachers brought out new saris for the occasion.

On Sunday the fast started. It is a five day fast where girls can only eat fruits and nuts. There is only one meal and it is made from a special flour and there is absolutely no salt. This is a fast so that you will someday have a good husband. I also started the fast, which began with giving offerings at the temple. One of the offerings is fruits, leaves, flowers, and water. The priest guides the group of women through the offering through a series of mantras. The offering ends in the singing of a mantra and a story and then the women start their five day fast.

On Monday all the girls are able to come to school out of uniform. This turns into a fashion show, with clothes from typical Salwar Kameez, to very elaborate and trendy dresses. The latest fashion in dresses are tight fitting pants, similar to skinny jeans and a top that has a tight bodice and flowey at the bottom. Some girls prefer completely western clothes. Wearing trendy shirts with writing in English and extremely decorative jeans, adorned in flowers and designs.

On Wednesday there was an Arthi competition. Arthi’s are elaborately decorated and have small balls of wax with wicks of flame that are moved in circular motions, while singing to God. I went to the competition and I was quickly made to judge the competition. I was trying to tell them that I was certainly not an Arthi expert, since I had never attended any competition for Arthi, but still they insisted I could judge. In the English medium school there was over fifty contestants and I had to give scores for all of these students. The students have metal trays that are decorated with dough, colorful beads, flowers, glitter, sand, lentals, nuts, etc. The arthi is then lit with candles and is used for religious practices. So far I believe on the whole that children from India are more artistic. Most of the children were able to transform their tray into a masterpiece. Some other students struggled and made something that looked like a birthday cake gone bad. Most all the students created elaborate works of art, so to pick the winners I had to play a little game of enie miney miney moe. Clearly this is the most objective thing to do in such situations.

Thursday night was the last day of the fast. Apparently this is cause for celebration, but all I felt like doing was going to sleep. The tradition is that girls stay up to at least after midnight, sometimes all night. After a dinner of thin rothi and unseasoned potatoes, due to the no salt rule, I felt like I had enough energy to sleep at the table. Despite the way I felt there were so many festivities occurring outside I was nearly dragged kicking and screaming to celebrate. The neighborhood was gathered around our temple doing a dance called Garba. All of my students also pleaded that I join in the dancing. While all the other women were mostly in saris I was wearing pajamas. This was perfect, many people thought. As I was already a sight to see dancing a dance I had never seen before, but to top it all off now I was in pajamas! After dancing Garba we marched down the street singing, ringing bells and banging drums. People might kill you for this in the US, particularly because it was after nine pm. After the march there was a fake marriage. Again drums and singing and also blessings were made inside a wooden structure worn on people’s head, as we marched down the street many people were invited to give blessings. I was invited also and gave rice, blades of grass, and red powder as an offering. Also kids came to make offerings and at the end were asked to bow and given a big slap on the back. One of the children was a young girl dressed in an elaborate sari, including all the necessary ornaments, necklace, bindi, bangles, anklets etc. Her parents were encouraging her to sit with me for pictures, which she was very reluctant to do since I was a complete stranger to her.

We then continued dancing Garba this time to a drum beat and now I was becoming much more comfortable and was really enjoying myself. The night was finished with a singing competition. Two lines of women faced each other and one group must sing a song and the other group also sings a new song, but it must begin with the same sound the other groups song ended with. This was a very popular game and continued for so long I finally had to get up so I wouldn’t fall asleep right there under the stars. As I walked back I heard the singing loud and clear all down the street.

The final and most exciting part of the festival occurred on Saturday morning after the festival finished. The school held an annual fancy dress completion/ Hindi skit performance/ Dance competition. This was so much fun. The young children were dressed as rag women, milk men and women gods and goddesses. One of the most memorable competitors was a little boy dressed as an old fashioned singer. He got on stage and with unbelievable confidence belted out tune after tune. My favorite part of the day was the dancing. Everyone could tell by me sitting on the edge of my chair. The supervisor even said into the microphone Meghna teacher this is when you want to start recording. Although my memory card on my camera was nearly full. I captured each and every dance performance, so I could try and emulate them later.

My first festival in India proved to be very exciting and a great time. This month and August are supposed to be filled with festivals, which will be a great exposure to this colorful culture.