Author Archives: Mohil Kapadia

Om Nama Shivaya – A Daily Ritual

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Sammamish, Washington
Language: Hindi

Ritual: The daily repetition of Om Nama Shivaya before any tasks or actions to be taken

Background/Informant’s Interpretation: Taught by his dad, the first day of high school, this saying is close to his heart and important for his daily routine. The repetition of Om Nama Shivaya, as taught by his dad, is to help him build confidence and certainty in the fact that in whatever he does, he does it with a full heart, a Hindu God’s, Shiva, divine blessings as well. Not only does he do this before major exams, such as final in the coming weeks, but being part of numerous extracurriculars and sporting groups in high school and college, he still says this everyday to ensure he is able to perform at the fullest of his potential in whatever he sets his mind to.

My Interpretation: Coming from a similar religious background, I find this saying important and influential in terms of one’s affirmation. However, I find that this saying and others like it are something that you can find through familial connections or being present in a religious community like a Hindu Temple or connections to a priest. I find that the repentance of this ritual also builds up characters and creates confidence through an omnipresent third party, who, while judging you and is known as the destroyer of worlds, can become one of your greatest mentors and assist you in whatever it is you want to do. I find it particular present as a prayer said during poojas, a religious ceremony that celebrates or brings attention to one of the many hindu deities that a family may associate or put themself with.

Holi – The Festival of Colors

Nationality: Australian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hyderabad, India
Language: English

Festival: Holi — The Festival of Colors

Background/Informant’s Interpretation: Playing with colors, since a young age in India, Holi is something fond to him, and is happy to find in the United States, being abroad and away from home. Introduced by his family, specifically, his dad, at the age of 4, Holi is a Hindu festival where individuals throw color and water at each other. To him and those across the country, it symbolizes that good has beaten evil hence spring has arrived. Music, loud drums are played and people dance in the streets with traditional food being passed around normally cold drinks and desserts like thandai and khulfi. Sweets are also made to be shared with family and friends. Recently, playing holi at USC brought fond memories of throwing colors at his sister, demonstrating shared memories through a heritage-centered festival

My Interpretation: Besides sounding like a good time, this festival is key in his development as a person, and also symbolizes how part of your heritage can be shared and showcased with others. With traditions such as the type of food and the objects being used in the festival remaining consistent, we can see that the past is being shared with the present through a shared means. Furthermore, culture is something that is shared here as it is with family and loved ones. This association plays into the idea that this festival appears on campuses and nontraditional locations, which previously would have been colorless.

Kaju Katli – A Staple Sweet

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Residence: Hyderabad, India
Language: English

Text: Kaju Katli

Background/Informant’s Interpretation: A sweet that roughly translates to cashew diamond, this good is enjoyed and can be found at any festival or pooja being performed in India. Traditionally, sweets are offered after a festival or pooja to celebrate the completion, the auspiciousness, and the good they tend to bring. Sometimes, his mom would make them for him to enjoy after he did well on a test or if his parents were in a good mood. This led to him consuming 10 to 15 at a time and passing out on his couch after a sugar crash. This sweet, is a processed white diamond that is prepared by a combination of dry ingredients such as cashew and sugar, making it into a fudge-like consistency. He remembers him and his dad going to local vendors and street shops to collect these sweets while being ordained in Traditional clothing called Kurtas for men and saris for women.

My Interpretation: The sweetness itself sounds key in the celebration and essential to a certain tradition that is maintained time after time. The fact that it is interchangeable with other ones that can be used, but also is needed at the end of the festival, symbolizes the fact that without it or its adjacent parts of the festival or the ritual seems to be incomplete. Hindu rituals tend to emphasize this idea of good triumphing, so the sweet is sort of a key factor in representing this in a materialistic way. Furthermore it is a cultural item that can be shared and enjoyed by others. I feel that it also connects to heritage and ties into glocal culture as a local tradition can be mass-produced and is seen on a global level in cities across the country and out of its home region.

Aarti – A Ritual of Lights

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Connecticut, United States
Language: English

Festival: Aarti – A hindu ritualistic offering of Lights

Informant’s Interpretation: Celebrating with his parents, this festival is celebrated during the fall season of the year, falling around Halloween. Centered around aarti, where a lamp is lit with fat and clarified butter, his family offers each lamp to a specific god. His parents did this with him daily before dinner as a culmination of the day. With his dad, his mom, and he coming back from work, school, and other strenuous day activities, this ritual brings them all together on a positive note. Waving it in a circular motion to a deity, they sing prayers or mantras to show offering and praise to the gods.

My Interpretation: I find this intriguing due to the fct that this is cultural aspect is spread amongst the varying ethnic groups across India and similar forms of it appear in other religions or festivals. Here, a worldly sort of meaning can be interpreted into one ethno-religion centered area but at the same is representative of shared beliefs. For example, a group in North India might believe in a god centered around their geographic region, while one in the Bottom South part of India believe in another due to geographic ties. Aarti connects them together. This shared heritage also applies to the wide variety of festivals that are celebrated in India, and life cycle related festivals such as a wdding or childhood significant events.

Graduation – A Shared Celebration

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Schenectady, New York
Language: English

Ritual: Graduation- Celebrated at the completion of an educational cycle or program

Background/Informant’s Interpretation: With an older brother and a twin, he has had his fair share of high school graduations. A yearly occurring ritual that symbolizes one graduating into the next steps of life where one is spreading their wings and is leaving home for the first time. Most kids in the US go through this ritual, with the lessons from high school carrying on in your actions and thoughts that occur within college, especially during your freshman year of college. His older brother, witnesses him and his twin crossing the stage was symbolic to him of how he was able to share a non-religious ritual with brothers in an public environment. Getting to meet many people and different experiences, this culminates into a mixed culture across college campuses in the United States, he has experienced as a non-traditional theatre major. At the end of the ritual people may take an untraditional path going into trade school or forgoing school overall. However, at the end of the day, this a ritual that is key i one’s development and one that celebrates past accomplishment laying out steps for what is to come next.

My Interpretation: Personally, I believe that this riytal that is common amongst all yet is easily forgotten due to its yearly appearance. With a brother who recently went through a collegiate and medical school one this rituakl demonstrates a part of someone’s heritage that we often times forget about due to the fact that their are no systematic, religious or ethnic ties to it. Its important to a heritage, due to the fact that the steps it took to get to graduation differs person to person, with arduous steps and sub-processes highlighting how family and culture has pulled through for them. As such, graduation acts as a culmination of all these factors and emphasizes an essential part of heritage in the 21st century.