Indian New Year is celebrated this weekend. It is a time of celebration & spirituality. There are many ways to celebrate it. This is what my family does...
You want to be able attract the goddess Lakshmi into your home. She's the goddess of prosperity or specifically money. She likes a tidy house. So, before the weekend we'll do an exceptional house cleaning. Throw out clutter from the drawer,garage, & basement. It's kind of a feng shui deal.
Alka & I are sending our checkbooks to my Inlaws' temple so, they can be blessed. Yes, blessed by the priests. If you ran an Indian business you would be closing your books for the year.
I kind of wanted to send my running shoes to get blessed too but, I didn't know if that would be disrespectful. Plus, I need them back before this Sunday's race.
But, that's no problem because my home like most Hindu homes has its own temple. My father built it for us as wedding present. It's kind of a Taj Mahal Old Yankee Workshop looking thing. We keep little statues of Lakshmi & Lord Ganesha or Ganapati in Gujurati in it.
Ganapati's my main man. He's the god with the elephant head. I like elephants. He's overweight. I can relate to a chubby god. He's the remover of obstacles too, which is a cool thing to be.
Sometime Saturday will take the gods out of the temple & have our own little puja. Use some twisted cotton balls & ghee (Indian butter)& make candles. Make a little concoction of yogurt, honey, water, ghee, & something else I'm forgetting & feed the gods. We do the same thing to coins too. Remember Lakshmi. At some point we use a red Indian spice to put the little red dot on the heads of the gods & us too. We think happy thoughts, wish for a prosperous & fruitful life & that's it. Happy Divali. Let's eat.
We'll also probably go to my inlaws temple. They put out a spread of food in front of the gods that has to be seen to believed. A kaleidscopic cornucopia of food laid out in colorful patterns & sculptures. Words can't do it justice. It's really cool.
I'm dragging my own parents to temple on Sunday. They've never been & I think they'd get a kick out of it. If you have any Indian friends or relatives ask to tag along. Dig the multicultural thing. I think you'll like it.
Happy Divali.
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