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| Sunday, 11 April 2004 |
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New Year thoughts : Sporting red this year by Sumana Saparamadu This year, astrologers have told us, the lucky colour for the new year
is red. Last year it was pearl white and the year before it was This time, the new year dawns at 6.32 pm on Tuesday April 13. Tuesday according to Indian astrology, and the Indian calendar which we also follow, is the day of the planet Mars. In the ancient Indian calendar as in the Roman calendar each day is named after a planet - the day's presiding planet whose influence on men and events is manifest that day. In the dim and distant past the sun and moon being celestial bodies were considered planets and the first two days were assigned to them. (In the English calendar, except for Sunday and Monday some days of the week are named after planets viz Saturday after Saturn, and others after Norse Gods. Wednesday is Wednesday or the day of odin the King of the Norse gods and Friday is named after Frigg, wife of Odin.) Each planet has its special colour which is the lucky colour of the day of that planet. Sunday - redish gold, bronze Astrologers had assigned red to Mars millenniums before scientists discovered that the surface of Mars gave out a red sheen. One person who strictly keeps to the lucky colour of the day is Latha Mangeskar, India's famous singer. She is always dressed in white at a recital, be it at home or abroad, but her saree will have a border of the lucky colour of the day. If she goes on stage today, she will be in a white saree with a bronze or reddish yellow border. It is not only at recitals, but in daily life too Latha Mangeskar is reported to follow this rule. I know of lesser folk, who choose a saree, shirt or tie of the lucky colour for the day when going for an interview or on a mission or an assignment the outcome of which would affect his/her life. I was reminded of an amusing incident connected with lucky colours for each day. Some readers may remember Naylor's weekly forecast which was a regular feature in the Sunday Observer until about twenty five years ago. Naylor gave a lucky colour for each day. When an aspiring university entrant went before the interview board in the early fifties, the Vice-Chancellor Sir Ivor Jennings had made a quizzical comment on the colour of his tie. These were times when the Establishment looked with disfavour at anything red. The quick witted young man had replied! I read Naylor this morning. He said 'wear red for luck! This university entrant ended up as head of his department and later was our Ambassador in America. Some local astrologers too, in their weekly forecasts give a lucky colour for each day. Besides having a specific lucky colour, each day of the week it has a specific tree. It may be the special tree of the presiding planet of the day of this I am not certain. An important item in the new year rites is the anointing of medicinal oils at the auspicious time, a ritual now observed more in the breach in urban areas. The Department or Ministry of Cultural Affairs usually goes to town on that day, with a Minister or his Deputy anointing oil or being anointed by a monk. In the specifications given by the astrologer for the ceremonial anointing of oil it is stated that the person being anointed should stand on the leaves of a particular tree and have leaves of another specified tree over the head. These leaves are related to the day the ritual is performed. This year the ritual being on Thursday the select leaves are Kohamba for the feet and bo for the head. The leaves the person stands upon are leaves of the tree used for the head last year. This ceremony of anointing oil is referred to by both Robert Knox and John Davy in their accounts of the new year festival. John Davy wrote in 1821. "The king directed his face to the South-east with Imbul leaves under his feet and nuge leaves in his hand and applied the medicinal juices to his head.' There is some discrepancy of the date of the new year as recorded by these two writers. Davy says "At the time appropriate for the commencement of the new year which amongst the Sinhalese is always in April, the King sat on his throne in state....." But Knox says :Their New Year is always either the 27th or the 28th or 29th of March...this is called Ouride." Is this difference is dates due to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar? Knox wrote in the 2nd half of the 17th century (he was in Ceylon between 1666-1679) when Great Britain was still using the Julian calendar. It was in 1752 that Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar and lost 11 days September 2 was followed by September 14th. Davy was following the 'New Style' Gregorian calendar, March 29th in Knox's time could have been April 12 or 13 when Davy was writing in 1821. |
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bronze,
the colour of the sun. How is the lucky colour determined for it varies
from year to year. Simple. The colour is determined by the day of the week
on which the new year dawns.
