The essence of new year traditions

Earlier in April, we celebrated our traditional New Year in Sri Lanka. This day is signified astrologically by the Sun's transition from the House of Pisces to the House of Aries. On this special event, the people who celebrate get into a frenzy of shopping for gifts, cleaning their homes, making/ buying sweets, following the traditions prescribed at auspicious times and preparing to visit and receive relatives and friends. All this excitement makes people generally happier and nicer to associate with.

Of course, what it really is (or is becoming), is a series of symbolic rituals because our livelihoods have changed much from what it was in the ancient times and the actions carry much lesser meanings. Maybe our grandparents actually believed in superstitions and meanings behind the new year customs they carried out. Their respect for these rituals stemmed more from a fear of consequences of not following it. Maybe even our parents believe those to a lesser extent. My parents' respect for these rituals stems more from a sense of responsibility to impart the knowledge and belief systems to their children. But down the line of generations, it's becoming more of a cultural/ fashionable thing to uphold as a member of a particular race. Like, I don't believe that not boiling a pot of milk at the auspicious time will not bring prosperity; I don't particularly believe that prosperity is linked to a simple action like that. Similarly, many other things like exchanging cash for the new year with some people will result in better or less fortunes. Or facing east, when we are asked to face north when lighting the hearth would make a difference.

This year, we boiled the milk over a hearth too. I was thrilled to see the milk boil over.

The excuse of the new year and the traditions that surround it, bring people together. Relatives we haven't met in a long while gather and enjoy meals and chats together, like they never lost any time or had any disagreements. Their children and children of their children meet each other and learn to play together. The customs dictate that you go house to house and deliver trays of sweets. Lunch and dinner invitations are exchanged. Gifts are exchanged among family members. The customs also require elders performing certain rituals for the younger ones like applying herbal oils on the head. There's usually new year games which are organised in villages and prizes to be won. In this way, social bonds are strengthened through the new year traditions. For this reason alone, I feel the need to participate and keep at least some of the traditions alive.

After all, what would happen if no one followed it or participated? Our lives will be duller and a lot more isolated from our familial roots.

Our table of new year delights! Lots of sweetness and fatty food - like with any other festival

This was the second new year I celebrated with my parents after a long gap of 11 years of being overseas. I feel blessed to be able to enjoy moments like these with my parents, knowing that these are numbered. 

Due to the abundance of food in this season, food is usually passed on (oops, was I not supposed to say this?!). What we receive from one house like biscuit packs and cake boxes, flow to another house during the visiting rounds. Gifts, too, are usually generic (like towels, sarongs, cloth material, cosmetics, soap, etc) and pass around while doing visiting rounds. In the end, although we are left with little material gains, we have generated a lot of satisfaction, having practiced generosity and good will!

This gift I received from the little drummer boy for our pond was not something I could pass on

New year is a horrifying time for pets and other wildlife in the area. There is a constant exploding sound of festive firecrackers, much like a war zone. Our dogs spent most of the new year day moody, frightened and under the beds and without appetite. This year, my brother had stocked up on firecrackers early. Next year, I told him we should do without firecrackers. 

With that festive event behind us, we are back to our normal lives, snacking on leftover sweets for tea.

Traditions then and now

The traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year which falls in April was a fun time for me as a child. We looked forward to this joyous occasion, which fell right after the school holidays began. It was a time when relatives gathered at my grandparent's house. There were plenty of games, food, fireworks and laughter. Now our grandparents are no longer around, so the relatives don't gather as much and families are getting smaller in size and living further apart.

The New Year is kind of a big deal in my culture. There is astrological significance in planetary shifts, there are auspicious times to do certain things, there are certain directions you have to look at while doing these customs, certain colours you have to wear, etc. All with the promise of bringing in good luck and prosperity.

I feel sandwiched between two generations of differing thoughts. My parents follow the traditions with a lot of devotion with no questions asked. Projecting ahead, the generations after me will see little point in following some of these traditions at all. I am stuck in a place where I want to keep the traditions going for it's cultural and nostalgic significance but I see little meaning in some of them.

This pattern is evident in other aspects of the culture too - religious events, funerals, weddings. While many of us question the significance of some customs, we feel compelled to follow through.

Of course, questioning the meaning of traditions and demanding evidence is akin to being a jerk. Some can argue that unique traditions from various cultures make the world a more interesting place, it helps people to bond and it keeps the generations connected in a special way.

An important aspect of maintaining traditions is that older generations set an example and pass down the knowledge to younger generations. With a growing number of skeptics, smaller families, geographic isolation, inter-racial marriages, etc, there is bound to be some "dilution" of traditions in the years to come. In a way, I admire families that make an effort to stay connected with extended families and keep annual traditions going just so the younger generations have something special to learn and experience.

The boiling of milk in a new earthen pot for the New Year until it overflows signifies the abundance of prosperity

Except food - no one questions the cultural significance of food! 

Esela Perahera

The city I live in is gearing up for a huge festival starting tomorrow. This annual festival called the Esela Perahera is held in July/ August and some refer to it as "the most colourful pageant of Asia". For 10 days, a huge procession of Kandyan dancers, drummers, jugglers, fire-breathers, whip-crackers, adorned elephants and more will parade through various narrow streets of Kandy town as a mark of respect to the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha. The relic is housed in the Temple of the Tooth (aka Sri Dalada Maligawa).

A short clip of the Esela Perahera

Hordes of devotees, tourists and locals will be pouring into Kandy in the next few days, making the town very congested! Thankfully, this time of the year also happens to be cool, windy and without much rain. Most locals who have lived their entire lives in this city still try to catch the spectacle at least on one of the days, knowing very well that it will involve brushing with hundreds of strangers on the streets, sometimes struggling to hold on to a few inches of ground to stand, because it is indeed an impressive sight.

Our family was invited by some friends to watch the procession from the comfort of one of their friends' shop balconies. We also talked about taking a load of snacks and drinks to share and kill time till the procession passes us. Our snack menu includes things like fried peanuts, biscuits, boiled chick peas, pickled fruit, fresh fruit, cake, etc. As a child I remember we (all the younger ones) try to count the number of elephants in the procession and compare notes later. My last count was forty-two although the procession is said to have up to a hundred elephants! I'm guessing many elephants got away while I reached out for snacks or got carried away eating.

I also remember a time when elephants that were brought to Kandy from various parts of Sri Lanka for the Esela Perahera would come to bathe in the river beside my house. We enjoyed watching them play and bathe in the river from a distance. It seems like they have found a different location for bathing in the recent years.

This time though, I have mixed feelings about participating as a spectator of this grand procession that has cultural, religious, traditional and nostalgic significance to me.

In the past, Asian elephants were used in warfare and labour that required strength. As these roles are now redundant, elephants (in captivity) in Sri Lanka have become a symbol of wealth and power. It is not uncommon for temples, powerful figures and some Buddhist monks to own at least one elephant. They are also used in numerous religious processions, celebratory events like weddings and animal shows for human entertainment.

Almost all elephants that seem tame to humans are captured in the wild. A more fitting word would be "snatched" from the herd. Most are caught very young as they need to be "tamed" from a young age. It is said that they undergo a training period consisting of torture, starvation, abuse and solitary confinement to "break their wild spirit" and fear a human keeper enough to obey their orders. Unlike their African counterparts, Asian elephants more suitable for training. They can't be domesticated (as in the case of selectively bred animals) so although "tame", captive elephants are pretty much the same as wild elephants. Therefore, they are kept chained and mahouts (elephant keepers) always carry a sharp hook to remind the elephants of obedience.

During the Esela Perahera, captive elephants are made to participate in a procession with thousands of bystanders, heat and noise. Some of the bigger elephants carry chieftans on their back. During the procession, they sometimes step on smoldering pieces of charcoal that fall off the torches and are regularly prodded by the mahouts with hooks. Sick elephants are probably not spared because participation means a day's wage for a mahout. One elephant on a rampage in a congested town could easily end up in a catastrophe. So underneath beautifully adorned garments, adult elephants walk in chains that are often too short for the animal to take a natural step. This is perhaps a fitting analogy for the Esela Perahera itself. Beneath all the extravagance, there lies commercialism (yes, even our family benefits from incoming tourists to Kandy) and worse, untold suffering for the hundred elephants.

A chained temple elephant in Sri Lanka. Source: The Dodo

While the elephant-mahout bond is said to be a a special one, usually for life, not every mahout is kind or an expert in the needs of elephants. Mahouts work hard to look after an elephant and depend solely on the elephant for their livelihood. So the only means he can feed his family and a 2-5 tonne animal (that eats about 150 kg of food a day) is to take his elephant to as many events, religious processions he can, or simply show them off to tourists in return for a fee. In a way, religious events like the Esela Perahera support the livelihood and sustenance of many mahouts and captive elephants respectively. However, it is a vicious cycle.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has categorised Elephas maximus as "endangered" and the population count is on a downward trend. In Sri Lanka, there are threats like elephant-human territorial conflicts, capture of juveniles in the wild and an ivory demand (which is smaller in extent compared to Africa).

A herd of wild (female) elephants and their offspring spotted at Minneriya National Park (Sri Lanka) during my last visit in July 2016. Scores of them gather annually in this very spot while on a migratory route. 

It is indeed a sad case that in the 21st century, with so much accumulated knowledge in Science and collective conscience, we continue to uphold and glorify traditions with a darker side. It is even sadder that we humans exploit animals in the name of religions that preach kindness and non-violence towards them.

Elephants are special. Like pandas, they elicit a feeling of fondness in many people (if you disagree, you haven't seen a baby elephant up close). They are the largest land animals on Earth. They are highly intelligent and social herbivores with complex emotions. They have the longest gestation period of 18-22 months for a mammal and elephant calves depend on the mother's milk for 3-4 years. Even if those facts don't impress anyone, few would argue that a hundred shackled elephants covered in magnificent costumes are better than a hundred elephants roaming free in the wild.

Good eats

We shifted to a new office in a brand new building recently. Now that the worst parts of moving are behind us, the new office is something I look forward to. Going through the agony of shifting together and being shuffled around has fostered warmer ties among different sets of people. I have my own cubicle and no longer share an office room with my boss. The pantry is next door and there are three times as many ladies' toilets in this building. Not only that, they gave me my own locker located inside the toilet! Now I don't have to resort to creative ways of pulling out feminine products discreetly from my bag in my boss' field of view or resort to sending telepathic signals to his part of the brain that controls thirst and the bladder. Open office plans are somewhat unnerving. People sneak up from behind a lot and involve me in random small talk or expect me to take part in group conversations flying across the floor which I don't pay much attention to.

The trip back home made me rethink my eating habits. The lunch I eat at the office canteen is quite oily so I decided to eat home cooked meals on some days. Although I am not noticeably affected by oily food now, who knows even an extra year saved in terms of blocked arteries during my last stand may prove to be useful. I actually enjoy cooking. To me, it's more like an enjoyable version of laboratory research where the subjects of my experiments are my friends, and not mice. The friends don't mind since they get to sample free food. Making food that is healthy is science. Making food that is visually appetizing is like art. And making food that tastes good with the right ingredients in the right quantities is chemistry. Hitting that mark of perfection in taste is like reaching the equivalence point in a titration experiment. Adding anything less or anything more is likely to miss the mark. With the exception of accidentally poisoning oneself or burning down the house, failures in cooking experiments are valuable things that go down as lessons learnt.

Last night I went out for a barbeque with my colleagues. We planned this event for many days with much excitement. Everyone pooled in their ideas and sponsored various items. Initially they planned to bring their families and invite other friends, but in the end it was just the four of us. I stated in the beginning that I won't be inviting any of my friends - I can't imagine how any of my closest friends would enjoy an outing on a Friday night with a group of mostly unknown people and be forced to socialise.

We drove to the farthest end of the country in search of our barbeque pit in Changi Beach Park. In all the excitement, we forgot to research on the road route. We parked in the wrong car park and walked about a kilometer from the car park to the pit carrying heavy things like charcoal, barbeque equipment, food, drinks, a bag of ice cubes, a large ice box, large umbrellas and a big watermelon! Also, getting a fire started was quite a challenge. Eventually, we settled in what was a calming spot, listening to the waves pounding on the beach and getting excited every time a low flying aircraft made its way to land at the Changi airport. It was a Friday evening well spent in good company, (over)eating, talking, singing a lot of old songs (mostly just the first few lines) and playing charades.

What do vegetarians eat at barbecues? In yesterday's barbeque, Shu sponsored garlic and herb vegetable skewers and grilled corn

On my return from Sri Lanka last month, I brought back some biscuits to distribute to my office colleagues. One of my favourites is the ginger biscuit which I also passed to an older Scottish colleague who occasionally gives me biscuits and freebies leftover from Safety campaigns in the office.

He came back to me several weeks later and said, "Shu, do you think you can get me more of those biscuits? As kids, we used to eat something called Ginger Snaps, which we don't see anymore. It reminded me a lot of my mother who used to dunk the biscuits in milk because they were too hard for her false teeth!"

It's fascinating how memories of certain events in our lives are tied to food or songs and archived in our long term memory, only to be released on contact with specific triggers.

"Ginger snaps" from home

In a twist of unexpected events, Brother Bear and Goldilocks are turning out to be better tenants than we are. While we are at work, they proactively clean the house (although we protest to it), fix broken locks and to our embarrassment, they even solved a chronic clogged sink issue. Now that they keep the house cleaner, we are feeling the pressure to keep up. Shu learned that they got married only a couple of months ago and left family behind soon after to start a new chapter in Singapore. It's a bit saddening knowing it's a struggle to adjust to a new country and culture, but at the same time, it's admirable that they are trying it with a positive attitude.

Last week, Ryuu and I caught Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back to back. I didn't think we'd make it through 4 hours of sitting (with old age, weak bladders and all) but we did. Guardians was definitely the better movie of the two, but Turtles was a major blast from the past for me. I was a big time fan of the cartoon as a child and recall fondly playing the game on my TV game console.

Recently, I discovered a food stall selling "appam" and it was our pre-movie dinner. In Sri Lanka, they are known as "hoppers" and are very popular among the masses.

Not so long ago, Katy and I decided to try Mediterranean food at a restaurant called Esmirada. Just when we were beginning to think the food there was a bit underwhelming, the restaurant suddenly came alive and started playing a loud, catchy folk song. I thought it might be a birthday celebration. Then some of the staff members got on tables and danced away while smashing lots of porcelain plates! Soon, they gave us plates for smashing too!! Everyone was in smiles and followed suit.

The staff danced on the tables to this folk tune. It turns out that smashing plates is an ancient Greek tradition and the "Zorba" is a Greek dance.

The floor was a mess of chipped porcelain when we left