Republic Day - January 26th

India has two days of national patriotism - Independence Day (August 15th) and Republic Day (January 26th).

Republic Day is the day India's constitution came into force.

This January 26, 2017, India celebrated its 68th Republic Day!

SOME HISTORY:

After India gained Independence from the British in 1947, the constitution was drafted by the drafting committee at the national assembly on November 4, 1947. The final version of the constitution in both English and Hindi was signed by the national assembly on January 24, 1950, and the constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950.

Since then, January 26th has been celebrated as Republic Day, a day that marked India's full transition into an independent republic.

CELEBRATIONS:

On this day, many military parades are held in Delhi. It's a national holiday so schools, colleges and offices are not operating that day. Older school children are typically asked to compulsorily go to school in the morning to witness the flag hoisting and salute the Indian flag. Then they may go home.

Military parades, displays of military equipment and the Indian tricolor flag are all important symbols on this day.

View the full 68th Republic Day celebrations:

This year, the chief guest for India's Republic Day parade was the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In celebration of India's 68th Republic Day the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE, the tallest building in the world, was lit up in colors of the Indian flag! #INDIA-UAE ties!

THE INDIAN FLAG:

The Indian flag is a horizontal tricolor with saffron on top, white in the middle, and dark green on the bottom. In the center of the flag is a blue Ashoka chakra with 24 spokes. The flag is to be made of khadi material and the width to length dimensions of the flag are to be a 2:3 ratio.

Saffron is a symbol of courage and sacrifice.

White  is a symbol of honesty, peace, and purity.

Green is a symbol of faith, chivalry, prosperity, vibrancy and life.

The Ashoka Chakra or the Dharma Chakra (wheel of law) with 24 spokes appears on a number of the edicts of Ashoka.

For more on the flag and its history, read this.

ALSO, if you are on Facebook, go like the official page for my own new radio show called Desi Tunes! It's a radio show dedicated to playing Indian music of all genres, from all eras, in all Indian languages. You can suggest music too by messaging or posting to the show's Facebook page (I highly encourage it)! Be sure to tune in on Mondays 2-3pm MST on Blaze Radio 1330 AM for this show! You can tune in from across America and probably in other parts of the world too! Eventually I will try to do Facebook lives and/or upload a full audio recording of the show onto the page so those of you in different time zones can listen! What are you waiting for? Go follow us and like our page!

Pongal/ Sankaranthi

Pongal

Pongal, also called Sankaranthi, is the South Indian festival that is celebrated on the 14^th of January every year as the harvest festival of South India. It signals the end of the traditional farming season. 

The Pongal festival actually consists of four consecutive festivals:

Jan 13 is Bhogi, when old clothes and materials are thrown away and burnt, marking the beginning of a new life for the next year.

Jan 14 is Pongal. It is traditional to boil fresh milk in a pot and let it boil over (literal meaning of “Pongal”). People also make sweets and savories in celebration. Chakkara (Sweet) Pongal is a kind of sweet that is made on this day. A Pooja is usually done where vegetables, sugar cane and spices are offered to the gods.

Jan 15 is Maattu Pongal to thank the cows and bulls. Jallikattu is also played on this day in many places in Tamil Nadu. Jallikattu, an old tradition for the farmers, is a bull taming event. It is fundamentally different from bull fighting seen in Spanish culture. In Jallikattu, money is tied to the bull’s horns and participants are given a chance to tame the bull. Whoever tames it can get the money. But there is a time limit and if the bull wins, the bull is used to service numerous cows and in this way it preserves the native breed. No weapons are allowed and the bull must not be harmed in any way.

Jan 16 is Kanum Pongal or Thiruvalluvar Day. This day is dedicated to the sun god. This day is also a day when all the women, young and old, of a household pray for the welfare of their home and brothers. They go outside in the morning before bathing and place small banana leaves out. On each banana leaf, some Chakkara Pongal, curd rice, sugar cane cut into tiny pieces, and sometimes Ven Pongal, are kept for the birds while the women pray. After this aarti is performed. This ritual is also called “Kaaka Kuruvi Kalyanam” (marriage of crow and sparrow). After this, the women go inside and bathe with some turmeric.

FUN FACT: Many Hindus actually leave some food out for the birds (usually crows) every day. Whenever rice is cooked, a little bit is taken from the top (after offering it to the gods, of course) and set outside. It is only after this that they must eat.

The best thing about Pongal is the sugar cane and the chakkara Pongal, in my opinion. Also, sugar cane juice is amaaaazing!

IN THE NEWS: The sport of Jallikattu has been challenged by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and they have declared a ban on it for alleged violent treatment of the bulls and accusations of animal cruelty. (Read: All You Need to Know about the Jallikattu Uprising) The people of Tamil Nadu are outraged because this is an almost 2500 year old tradition and the bulls are raised just for Jallikattu now. Without Jallikattu, raising bulls would be for nothing (because everyone uses tractors in fields now). So what about the cows that produce milk? Without the native breed of bulls, the cows would have to be artificially inseminated and the native breed of cows would disappear altogether. Thousands of thousands of Tamilians have been gathered at Marina beach in Chennai in peaceful protest against the ban on Jallikattu for three days now, as of January 19, 2017. Schools, colleges, business establishments and civic agencies have declare a day off on Friday, January 20, 2017, due to the far reaching consequences of the protests.

Karthigai Deepam and Muruga

Karthigai Deepam and Muruga

December 12^th, 2016 was Karthigai Deepam (CAAR-thi-gay DEE-pum) a festival of lights celebrated in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Karthigai Deepam is a festival celebrated in the name of the god Muruga, son of Shiva and Parvathi.

The Story of Muruga:

Once upon a time, the devas came to Lord Shiva in the Himalayas to tell him about their troubles because the ashuras had made the devas their slaves. (Deva generally means god and Ashura generally means demon.) Shiva consoled them saying a child will be born who will win in the fight against the ashuras. Then Shiva’s head became six heads, and from each a divine spark was emitted. The devas could not stand the heat and ran away, but Shiva told them not to worry as the sparks would not harm them. Shiva then asked Vayu (god of wind) and Agni (god of fire) to take the six sparks to Ganga (the goddess of water and goddess of the river Ganga in India), who will in turn take the sparks to the Saravana river. Vayu carried the divine sparks for a while, until the heat became unbearable and Vayu took them from him and carried them to Ganga. When the sparks reached the Saravana river, they joined together as one spark, which then became a six headed baby boy. Then six Krithika women arrived there. Seeing the baby, they all wanted to take care of him. Not wanting to cause a fight, the baby split into six babies – one for each of the Krithikas. They took care of the baby until Parvathi arrived. When Parvathi held all six babies together, they rejoined and became one six headed baby boy, who was Muruga. Because he was born on the banks of the Saravana river, he is called Saravanan. Because he was taken care of by the Krithika women, he is called Karthikeya. He is also called Kandha, Kumara, and many other names. Muruga grew up and eventually led the devas to victory in the fight against the ashuras.

Muruga once defeated the ashura Surapadma with his spear, which is his weapon, called a vel (pronounced VALE). The Ashura begged for forgiveness. Muruga then converted the two portions of his slain enemy into a peacock, which will henceforth be his mode of transportation, and a rooster that adorns his flag.

There is another story I would like to share with you. Muruga is Ganesha’s younger brother (Ganesha is also a son of Shiva and Parvathi). Once, Shiva got hold of a divine mango. Apparently it was supposed to taste really good. As any parent would do, he brought the mango home to Mount Kailash, his abode in the Himalayas, and called his sons Ganesha and Muruga. However, Shiva was told that the fruit must not be split in two or its divine taste would be gone. So Shiva decided to hold a competition for his sons and present the fruit to the winner. He said whoever goes around the entire universe three times first would get the fruit. Muruga immediately set off on his peacock and circled the universe. Ganesha however had only a rat as his form of transportation. Ganesha thought of a plan to win. He mounted his rat and circled his parents three times. By the time Muruga finished circling the universe thrice, Ganesha had finished going around Shiva and Parvathi thrice. Shiva gave the mango to Ganesha because he completed the race first. Muruga, enraged, asked why. Shiva explained that to Ganesha, his parents were his whole world, so he circled his parents and in doing so circled the universe. Ganesha got the mango, but Muruga was still furious and stormed off to Palani Hill in South India, and it certainly took a great deal of convincing to calm him down and bring him back. This is why Muruga has yet another name, Palaniyappa.

On Karthigai Deepam, numerous diyas (lamps) are lit and placed outside the house. As usual, a sweet or something is made as an offering to the gods.

I hope you enjoyed reading about Muruga! I would also like to inform you guys that THIS WEEKEND is PONGAL or SANKARANTHI, the harvest festival of South India.

Jan 13 is celebrated as Bhogi

Jan 14 is Pongal

Jan 15 is Maatu Pongal

ALSO, JANUARY 26^TH IS REPUBLIC DAY IN INDIA!

So now you know the upcoming holidays.