Muggles, The Dark Lord and Magic in India

Muggles:  All of you with children know how the kids of today hate to be called "muggles" since the Harry Potter series exploded in popularity, right?  Well, a few years ago when we started reading the books as a family Jasmine was very dismayed to find out that she is absolutely, positively, 100% muggle.  Unfortunately for her, in her father's language "muggle" means daughter so she's been referred to as a muggle non-stop for the past couple of weeks.  Poor girl.

The Dark Lord:  Well, not a "Dark Lord" actually, but a really bad guy.  Right now is Diwali time in India.  "Also known as Deepavali and Divali."  This is the festival of lights that celebrates the victory of good over evil.  There are several versions of the story, but a good short one is that Lord Ram, a version of Vishnu, defeated a very bad guy named Ravana and returned home.  Upon his return he was greeted with lamps and lights and lots of celebration.  Indian's love to celebrate Diwali.  There is traditional eating of sweets, wearing of new clothes, gift giving, and LOTS of firecrackers and sparklers.  It actually last for 3 days but we couldn't really start celebrating until today since we were still officially in mourning until today.  However, Jasmine went down to the courtyard last night where some of the children from the building shared some of their sparklers with her.  She really had a good time.  We're hoping to get some fireworks for tonight's celebration.

Magic: Yesterday (Nov 5) was the final, final day of ceremonies and rituals related to my father-in-law's passing.  The previous day there was a function at Vikas's mom's family house with a small ceremony and a lunch.  It seems that almost 300 people were there, just like the one a few days ago.  I, unfortunately, wasn't able to attend that one because I woke up sick.  (We've been passing around a yucky virus.)  Yesterday there was an additional ritual based on the fact that Vikas's dad passed away at an "un-auspicious" or bad time.  The priests believed that because of the way the stars were aligned at the time of his death, there was a chance that 3 more people close to the family might die.  So, yesterday was spent doing special rituals to insure the safety of the family and also the final peaceful send off for dad.  There was lots of fire and rice involved.  The 4 brothers and the sister all had to sit with the priests while they chanted mantras and did rituals.  There was rangoli (making of elaborate designs with rice powder on the floor), rice throwing, water drinking and lots of fire.  Vikas said the priests were explaining that death is imminent for all living things and how god exists in all living things.  He said they needed to make an offering to send up, but most things are pulled down by gravity.  Fire, on the other hand, defies gravity and goes up, so that was the medium for the offerings.  There were several times when everyone there had to walk around the fire and make offerings of rice or flowers, and at one or two points everyone was supposed to repeat some sanskrit phrases, but I didn't have any idea what they were saying so I just stood there with my hands folded in prayer position.  The most important part of the ritual is called the "pind-daan."  This would have had to happen regardless of the time of his death.  For this part, the 2nd son, Vishal, had to make a mixture of black sesame seeds and rice flour that was shaped into a ball, then everyone prayed over it and put a rice offering on it.  After all those rituals were performed, the brothers and sister (plus Jasmine) had to walk barefoot to the beach 1.5 kilometers away to throw his remaining ashes into the ocean.  The "pind-daan" mixture had to be submerged in the sea.  After that they had to face south and dip themselves under the water 3 times each, turn their backs to the sea and throw the clay pot containing the remains backwards over their heads.  Lastly, the coconut from the rituals was dipped 3 times into the ocean. That coconut was brought home and tied to a Jackfruit Tree and later served as part of the dinner. It was interesting to watch.  The brothers all had to wear white "lungis" which is the traditional cloth that men wear. So, with their shaved heads and lungis they looked like hindu monks wading out into the ocean.  Finally, last night we had to place a serving of food on a banana leaf for dad again before we could eat.  After that meal, all the rituals were complete.  That means that the fasting from fried foods is over, MIL can go back to cooking in the kitchen, and everyone is safe.

The beach yesterday was beautiful.  The sand was so white, and there were obviously lots of coconut trees so it was quite nice.  We plan to go back soon for a fun visit.  Jasmine wanted to play in the water so badly.  Vikas finally let her wade in in her new clothes but they could only stay for a couple of minutes.  We look forward to going back.