Midweek Review
‘New Year’: Facts and myths
With the advancement of knowledge and growth of scientific thinking the beliefs necessarily undergo a change. But the essentials of the belief or the ceremonials associated with them continue with the people in some form or another. In such a process the quantum of beliefs as well as the degree of credibility diminishes in some respects whilst in other respects the beliefs acquire new values new dimensions, and fresh interpretations.
Dr. N. Wijesekera (Deities and Demons; Magic and Masks)
By Susantha Hewa
Occultism remains to be our most expedient way of managing psychological security although we are living in the 21st century. We fervently believe in the power of the sun and the planets to influence our personal life’s ills and fortunes. Hence, everything we consider important in life such as a child’s first reading of the alphabet, cutting hair, going to school, going to an exam or an interview, marriage, building a house and housewarming are all done on ‘auspicious’ times contrived by astrologers. Urbanisation and increasing sound pollution have drowned the once lurid cries of crows, geckos and woodpeckers sparing us the trouble of being ‘guided’ by them in our day to day activities. Our natural appetite for conformity prevents us from examining the ‘benefits’ of adhering to these astrological directions or whether those who don’t conform perish. Abraham T. Kovoor once said that he did most of those things listed above according to malefic times but was no more wretched than the rest of us for such impudence- but that’s neither here nor there.
Following astrology individually is one thing but doing so nationwide is another. The former gives credence to augury in small doses within the immediate family circles but the latter authenticate it nationally. The ‘New Year’ seems to be the biggest social event in which astrological claims blend seamlessly with religion, ethics, cultural values and commercial interests in a merry ceremonial. The weight of custom makes us forget that the movement of celestial objects and crass business interests are not necessary for celebrating human values or material prosperity annually or daily, for that matter.
The ‘New Year’ festival is widely regarded as culturally important and uplifting for Buddhists and Hindus but like many other festivals it usually comes with a promise of exhilaration and leaves with a sense of disenchantment. Now, we are just shaking off the sense of déjà vu coming hard on the heels of ‘New Year’ partying and perhaps many would have already embraced the all too familiar routine with a sigh of relief. “It is over and done with at last…”- one may admit to oneself, perhaps with a sense of familiar awkwardness.
Today, any schoolgoer would smugly rattle off that the celebration of the Aluth Avurudda marks the ‘transit ‘of the sun from the ‘Meena Rashiya’ (House of Pisces) to the ‘Mesha Rashiya’ (House of Aries) but a few of them would know that this so-called shift is only an astrological claim and has nothing to do with the sun (and the planets) of which they learn in their science textbooks. No student is encouraged to find the truth or otherwise of this transition of the ‘sun god’ even in their science lessons, but a whole society is nudged into needless excitement by this legend, which is sustained and perpetuated by the pious repetition of a series of ritualistic acts conducted annually.
If we had a subject in the school curriculum where students were urged to examine traditional beliefs and customs objectively in a non-astrological context, it would certainly help students as well as teachers to understand them for what they are worth, shorn of superstition, which is handily cloaked as culture. Unfortunately, even at this immense distance of time from the prehistoric periods in which superstition ‘worked’ as science to enable humans to ‘understand’ and survive in an incomprehensible and erratic world, we are still wary of sifting grain from chaff. This perhaps shows our entrenched weakness for the mysterious; for our prehistoric cousins myth was science; now for many of us, myth takes over where science seems to ‘end.’
There is nothing criminal about getting excited by any important event but it is another kettle of fish when society is annually excited by an event born of myth and driven by tradition and blatant commercial interests. Good things like cultivating empathy, solidarity and forgiveness may not necessarily be so expensive to be felt only on a single day of the year. And, there is no magic in hundreds of thousands of people conjuring up all those humane attributes around the same time on a chosen day, unless it will bring some spectacular benefits at least to those who comply- let alone the entire humankind. It is ironical that despite such shared evocation of the best of human attributes, often the day generally ends in a bleak spectacle of people with bandaged hands and heads lying on hospital beds- the less unlucky ones!
In the past, when the celebrations were supposed to be far more sanctified and solemn, sobriety was conspicuous by its absence on New Year’s day and anyone who dared go out did so at his own peril because of nosey drunkards frequenting every bus halt, junction and gambling spot. Today, drunken brawls are not the norm but the exception- not due to any discipline instilled by the festival but as a result of stricter police surveillance and people becoming better informed and educated. In most festivals, not excepting religious ones, intoxication gets the better of morals foisted artificially. A cynic would say perhaps the sun impishly moves House to take people for a bumpy ride. Dr. E.W. Adikaram, who regarded too many festivals in a society as a symptom of too much ennui, says in a short essay titled ‘Avurudu’ Rituals and Aged Children, “It makes sense to stop working when one feels tired. There is no deception in that. But what is the meaning of stopping and starting work at a designated time in the name of some stars that are far, far away?”
Festivals are as old as the human race. Celebrations relating to the ‘sun god’ are not restricted to our time and clime. Our ancestors of antiquity beheld the celestial objects they could neither reach nor comprehend with awe and attributed their waxing and waning fortunes to the ‘conduct’ of these ‘gods.’
The earliest humans thought that they could control these heavenly bodies in a variety of ways by performing magic. Anthropology offers fascinating details of their rituals. According to James Frazer, in ancient Egypt, the king who was the representative of the sun god, solemnly walked round the precincts of a temple to help the sun complete his daily journey across the sky without any mishap. Ancient Mexicans who considered the sun as the giver of all vital force, are said to have reciprocated its benevolence by offering it bleeding hearts of animals and men in order to ‘give it vigour’ required to traverse the heavens. Today, we have a more informed idea about the ‘force’ of the sun. Thus, today we use its energy in diverse ways starting from drying clothes to generating electricity in irreverent denunciation of the primitive worship of the sun god.
Myths have acceptability in a social sense. When you are in a small group you can get to know the others intimately but this becomes impossible when the number of people in a community run into hundreds or thousands. It is said that when the numbers exceed the limit of around 150, people need to believe in common narratives or myths to cooperate and get a sense of collective identity; common myths of a community act as a glue strengthening an imagined sense of camaraderie. Joseph Campbell, the mythologist, who identifies four functions of myth, says that one of them is the sociological function of “supporting and validating a certain social order.”
Religious and cultural festivals are among large scale rituals that bring a transient sense of togetherness to people. They provide a sense of fellowship akin to one of solidarity people feel, for example, in the face of a catastrophe like tsunami or on an occasion of triumph like winning the world (cricket) cup. Nevertheless, the short-lived fellowship emerging in the run up to a festival fritters within days, if not hours, after the merriments. And, the sense of togetherness remains a faraway reality until you hear the rumblings of the next festival on the calendar. An instance of this oscillating sense of fellowship among individuals can be seen in the Kumbh Mela festival in India where thousands of people swarm the banks of Ganga for a ritual dip defying the escalating threat of Covid 19.
It would be more meaningful and educative if we could celebrate great achievements in human history, instead of unwittingly perpetuating anachronisms. A feat in science, art, philosophy, medicine, engineering or successful prevention of any natural or manmade catastrophe including war, merits annual commemoration but such events, despite their tremendous significance to humanity lack that mystique appeal to the present day homo sapiens.
Today, an important discovery in astronomy, physics or medicine does not have the same sense of urgency and involvement the primitive man felt towards superstition. In terms of psychological impact, it would be a far cry from the sense of wonder our prehistoric cousins would have experienced in the presence of the caprices of apparently eerie natural phenomena. Such feats, no matter how spectacular they are, don’t fascinate all of us the way natural phenomena captivated the primeval mind; hence the absence of the ritualistic dimension, which was an inseparable part of myths in antiquity.
We may need tradition to maintain an integrated society but occasional use of skepticism as a sanitizer may not be all that sacrilegious. Albert Einstein’s quote on “questioning” seems just right:
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.”