South Asia’s: Harvest Festival
by Akhllesh Pillalamarri
Ah, spring is finally here!
The end of winter and the start of spring is a sign of renewal,
awakening, planting and life in many cultures across the world. Because
of this, the start of spring is a time for several festivals and New
Year celebrations throughout many South-Central Asian cultures.
The most famous of these is probably Nowruz, which marks the first
day of spring in the Persian calendar and the start of the New Year. But
Nowruz celebrations are not only limited to Iran — they form an integral
part of the culture of all regions influenced by the historical greater
Persian culture.
Nowruz is celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, the Caucasus states, the
former Soviet Central Asian states, Kurdistan, Xinjiang and in many
parts of the subcontinent, especially Kashmir. Nowruz is a largely
secular festival, though it originated from ancient Zoroastrian rituals.
In India, several calendars begin around the start of spring, while
there are many spring festivals. Most Indians either follow the
Gregorian Calendar or local, regional calendars. Nonetheless, there have
been attempts at popularizing national, Hindu calendars.
The official manifestation of this is the Indian National Calendar,
or the Saka Calendar, which was promulgated in 1957 and attempted to
harmonize multiple Hindu calendars. Its year zero is 78 C.E. and does
not correspond with any widely known or important event. The Saka
Calendar is widely neglected in India. A somewhat more popular, related
calendar is the Vikram Samvat, a lunar calendar which dates its year
zero to 56 B.C.E.
Many historical monuments and inscriptions throughout India are dated
in Vikram Samvat years. The Vikram Samvat New Year can occur anytime in
a March to April period. As Nyepi, it is celebrated in Bali as the New
Year. Hindu groups in India have urged people to do more to celebrate
the Hindu New Year.
Many more popular New Year or spring festivals occur at the regional
level in South Asia. One of the largest of these is the festival known
as Yugadi or Ugadi in Telugu and Kannada and Gudi Parwa in Marathi. It
is celebrated across the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and
Andhra Pradesh.
Other new year events will occur in the Rajasthani and Sindhi
calendars in late March and early April.
However, by far the largest concentration of spring New Year events
is in mid-April. On April 14, the first day of the Bengali calendar,
Pohela Boishakh will occur. The word Boishakh is related to the Punjabi
Vaisakhi, a major harvest festival filled with fairs, also considered by
many in Punjab to mark the New Year. This too, occurs on April 14.
The Tamil New Year, Puthandu, and most of the Theravada Buddhist new
years of Southeast Asia, such as the Thai Songkran and Burmese Thingyan
occur either on or near April 13 or 14 in 2015. This may be because most
of these festivals derive from the ancient Indian festival known as
Sankranti, still widely celebrated across India.
- The Diplomat
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