Today was Pongal, well I guess technically day 3 of the 4
day Pongal festival. Pongal is the festival of the harvest. On day one, people
deep clean their houses and decorate their land with intricate rangoli. They also gather all their old stuff and burn it at
dawn. Day two, families gather together to cook and eat a traditional Pongal
meal. Day three is for worshipping their farm animals, which means
they decorate their cows (naturally) to thank them for their service. Day four is for
worshipping birds, who get an unhealthy amount of rice left out for them to
eat. People also go around visiting friends and family, and giving one another
gifts. The symbols for this holiday are the cows, the rangoli and a cooking pot overflowing with rice and these things are EVERYWHERE! In all different forms--blow up decorations, displays in the mall, signs, posters, etc.
We saw lots of smoke the morning of day 1, wandered into the
village on day 2 to see the different rangoli designs,
and set out to see the
decorated cows this evening. Sometimes they have a town celebration (and
possibly group decorating?) for the cows. We were told that it started at 5,
but there wasn’t much out there. We found out later on that they didn’t end up
having a place where the whole village could gather for the celebration—but
there were still some decorated cows.
Most the kids have gone home for Pongal break, but we still
have about 10 of them here and they asked if they could come with us into the
village. I didn’t think we would get permission, especially because it was more
of a last minute plea for the children’s holiday, but somehow we did. We didn’t
have much time so some of us rode the bikes and pumped kids while others just
walked. We even had a personal security guard and Pastor John holding up the
rear. It was a little disappointing to get them out there just to find out
there was no actual celebration to watch but it was still fun. We have the
school picnic coming up in a couple of weeks, where we will take all the kids
out for an all-day outing, so this was good practice I guess. J
Cohen wasn't to jazzed about the cow licking his arm but we were all loving it......sorry Cohen
I love our little village. I don't know their names but I know some of their faces and those faces make me happy. They are all so happy and kind. Most of them don't know English but we still manage to communicate. I was walking through the village a few days ago when I stopped to play marbles with some of the younger boys in the village. For whatever reason they thought it was absolutely hilarious. I have some great memories involving our village neighbors.
Some of the our staff happens to live in the village (like Anbu, our campus electrician, he and his family are in the picture below) which I personally love because it's really fun to be able to see them out of work mode and to get to meet their family members.
And another reason I love the village is because of these signs. They are the best right?
On a more serious note, I have been feeling a
little stressed over the last couple of weeks and it seems to have all internally culminated
the last few days—which has been tough for me/on me. This new team of coordinators isn't meshing as much as I would have hoped. I am sure it will all work out but trying to figure out the new dynamic can be hard, even without throwing a session in the day after coordinators arrive in India, immediately followed by the arrival of the largest session of the year which also happens to bring all the RSO bosses to the elephant house. I guess we all have these hard times but unlike other hard times I've had, I feel much more hopeful about this process. I've had moments of total frustration when a habit or automatic emotional response I thought I had overcome rears it ugly head, but at the same time I can feel myself progressing. It may be happening very very slowly but progression is progression right?
P.S.The Sunday after I wrote this post we were greeted by these in the church parking lot........
I am assuming this is what a Pongal rangoli themed Young Women's activity produces. Ever wondered what Christ looks like in rangoli form? Well now you can stop wondering. You are welcome.
