Hello Everyone!
As my family is a practicing Hindu, we do many rituals and celebrate many festivals. We recently celebrated Teej not too long ago and we will be celebrating Dashain/Dussehra and Tihar (Diwali in a few weeks).
We are honoring our ancestors this week. Ancestors are our relatives, who died a long time ago such as, your Grandparents, your Great Grandparents, and more. Everyone deserves to be remembered and so our ancestors should be remembered. Our ancestors have amazing stories that influence us, so we remember and honor them by doing rituals during Sorah shradh or Pitri Paksha( Pitri means ancestors). We celebrate for sixteen days in the month of September/ October to honor dead family members. We perform rituals based on the moon phase. For example, my uncle had passed away on a Waning Gibbous so we would honor him on a Waning Gibbous phase whereas my grandfather died on no moon day so my dad does rituals on new moon/ Amavasya day. We honor them by going to the temple and doing prayers as per the Hindu priest. They would have to offer water to ancestors by pouring water over the palm and the person would close their eyes, remember the face of dead family members and pray for them. On Shradha day, you aren’t supposed to eat non-vegetarian food or have to fast. So I will try not to eat non-vegetarian food this Tuesday and Wednesday. People also donate things to honor ancestors.
It’s not only Hindus who have the traditions of honoring their ancestors but other religions and cultures do them too. For example, Dia De Los Muertos, Day of the dead, which is a celebration of honoring ancestors in Mexico is normally celebrated on the day of Halloween where people celebrate by hosting parades, having celebrations, singing,dancing, and taking a visit to a loved one’s graveyard. You should watch the movie Coco to learn more about it.
In Peru, Peruvians celebrate “All Saints Day” by going to church and sending prayers and thanks to the saints. The following day, the Day of the Dead is celebrated. Another thing that I found interesting was the Obon festival in Japan. This started around 500 years ago under Buddhist influence. The festival is celebrated three days from the 13th through the 15th of the 7th month of the lunar calendar.
Jews have a tradition called “Shiva ” which is a long mourning period also known as “Sitting Shiva ”. It is a seven-day period where the family grieves the person’s death. Shiva means “seven” so, on the seventh day, the burial is done. People stay at home while people bring meals for the family.
Muslims normally do burials instead of cremations and they must be done as soon as possible. On the third day after the death, they do a memorial service and on the Fortieth Day, mourners place the headstone on their loved ones’ cemetery.
Death may sound like a depressing thing but it’s important to honor and remember people who have died. I think after death people go to the other world and for the soul, It’s like being all alone in a brand new world. Remembering them is a good way to make them feel happy wherever they are.
Let’s remember our ancestors on this occasion of Sorah Shradha.
This blog is dedicated to my ancestors who have done wonderful things in their lives.