New Year- a time of joyous renewal

By Kalakeerthi EDWIN ARIYADASA

Our Planet Earth orbits the Sun in a non-stop routine. This space drama has gone on for billions of years. We who inhabit this Planet Earth keep on orbiting the Sun, from birth to death.

The time taken by the Earth to complete one rotation round the Sun is described as a year. Conventionally a year has 365 or 366 days, divided into 12 months. Generally, the modern world calculates the year as the period from January 1 to December 31. This is characterised as a “calendar year”.

However, various people calculate the year in their own specific terms. The indigenous system of Sri Lanka measures the year from April 12 of one year to April 13 of the next year. These dates may vary slightly, but each year April 13/14 is celebrated as the day on which the Sinhala and Hindu New Year dawns.

Rituals

This year (2011), astrologers have indicated that the main New Year rituals should be observed on April 14.

The indigenous system assumes that the Sun “transits” from the zodiacal sign Pisces to the zodiacal sign Aries, starting the New Year.

The ancients believed that the Sun orbited our home planet. For centuries, the indigenous New Year celebrations were founded upon that assumption.

However, the unassailable fact is that the New Year festival takes precedence over all such occasions in Sri Lanka’s indigenous cultural calendar. It is entrenched in our society as our primary festival, in which almost everyone has a stake.

Incidentally the New Year is mankind’s oldest festival. It all began right from man’s earliest days on earth. At the time man was intimately linked with nature’s processes, especially the changing seasons determined the routine of his life.

In spring, nature was aglow with life. The wooded world was all green; rivers and streams, gurgling and roaring, hurried along, sparkling in the sun. Warblers flitted about practising their songs after some silence. Life quickened, instilling joy, elan and gusto into the spirit of those early humans.

Bounty

Summer arrived, nursing them with its bounty. Hunting and gathering ensured plenty and satiation. Then came the Fall-autumn. The lively green leaves turned brown and fell on the earth, carpeting it. At this “golden grove unleaving”, early man experienced a tinge of regret.

Finally, winter overwhelmed the earth. The bird-song was hushed. Waterways fell silent and froze into white sheets. Trees withered into twigs. Life seemed totally smothered.

Assailed and devastated by all this, man lamented the failure of nature. His only explanation was, that, the “great being”, who kept his world alive and glowing, has died. Early man went about mourning and weeping, saddened by his vast loss.

But, lo and behold, in spring, the “Great One”, regained life. The world again turned lush green and early man’s joy knew no bounds.

What is really remarkable is that these twin aspects are reflected in all New Year festivals of our day.

The initial phase is a period of lamentation. In the second phase man erupts with joy and begins a renewed life with the risen God of Nature.

In the age-old rituals of the Sinhala and Hindu New Year, these two facets are vividly present. In the segment described as the “Old Year” (Parana Avurudda), all pleasures are held in abeyance. The hearth is not kindled. Food is not partaken of. Entertainment is shunned. People indulge in religious pursuits. Today people performing these symbolic acts of mourning may not know the reasons behind this ritual. This is the distant echo of the wailing of the early man who was overwhelmed with sadness at the “death” of nature.

Jubilation

When the second phase of the New Year dawns there is widespread jubilation. The hearth is kindled afresh. Guests initiate new life by partaking of the festive meal and by starting transactions. Every routine of life begins afresh auspiciously and ritually.

In the Sinhala New Year festivities, the initial phase is described as the Nonagathe, the neutral phase, Nonekatha. This is a reflection of the death of the God of Nature, in the ancient system of belief.

In some places, strange rituals are performed to depict the loss of Nature’s power. In some remote villages of the Western world, the womenfolk tie up strong young men with ropes to symbolise the loss of nature’s vigour.

But they are untied after a brief while to symbolise the joyous revival of the power of nature. The menfolk of Sri Lanka should consider themselves very fortunate that Nonagathe rituals do not reach such extremes.

As most men and women of our day are so thoroughly alienated from the origins of the New Year rituals, they are tempted to trot out fanciful interpretations of such concepts as Nonagathe.

But, in the rural setting where I was born, the New Year was present as a living and pulsating entity. I have orbited the sun for 88 years and four months. I have seen 86 New Year festivals. In my childhood, the spirit of New Year seeped deep into our total being. Joyous expectations filled our childish souls. Mothers would prepare sweetmeats, imparting a creativity to the domestic New Year ritual.

The New Year was an event close to Nature. Deep-red buds of erabadu was a colourful advertisement announcing the arrival of the New Year.

The cuckoo’s song was a singing commercial, proclaiming that the new year was nigh.

Traditions

During my childhood, the New Year festival of our village was largely folk-inspired and folk-sponsored. Tradition provided the people with age-old rites and rituals.

Today, fortunately, the State, commercial interests and media (especially electronic) have taken over the New Year. We should be obliged to those institutions as they keep the masses attuned to tradition, preventing the precious New Year culture from fading.

The New Year rituals unify nations. The temple bells reminded villagers in the past about the ritual hours. Today television and radio have taken over. The modern media have steadily worked towards preserving our cultural heritage, especially those traits associated with the New Year.

New Year rituals contribute substantially towards preserving such human values as deference to elders and the pursuit of religious practices. Family reunions strengthen the intimate relations that unite people.

We have to discipline our people again to observe the New Year as an ecological celebration and as a means of uniting people through love and affection.

The New Year is a festival of peace that leads to harmonious co-existence. Internal conflicts are resolved. The New Year should be elevated to the level of a national ritual that will unite us as a single nation.