Holidays

By: Claire and Bailey
 * Holidays**

Main Points
toc
 * Ancient Greeks and ancient Hindus have religious holidays, festivals, and ceremonies
 * Religious holidays take care of honoring the gods and goddesses
 * The festivals take care of celebrating fun incoming years and seasons
 * The ceremonies are there to celebrate birth and marriage, and to mourn death

Pongal Harvest Festival
The Pongal Harvest Festival is an Indian holiday that is spread out over three days. On the first day people clean their houses and burn garbage on huge bonfires. They spend the day by these fires and young children bang drums as hard as they can.

The second day is the worship of Surya, the sun god who helped ripen the rice. For this reason rice pudding is offered and then eaten by families. The common greeting on this day is "paal pongrita?" which means "has the milk boiled over?". When the milk boils over with the rice, it is a symbol of wealth and prosperity. "Pongal" means overflowing.

The third day is when they worship cattle. To Hindus, cattle is special, so they do not eat beef. They thank the cattle for plowing the land, wash and decorate them with garlands. They also feed them rice pudding.

The Ganesha Festival
Before the Ganesha Festival many children go to shops and stores looking for a Genesha statue. Ganesha is a god with an elephants head and four arms.

The statue is positioned in a decorated area were presents will be given to it. As long as the celebration is going, this statue is thought to hold the spirit of god.

On the last day of this festival people gather to worship god and then march through the streets and throw them into the river. Ganesha is thought to make things "go smoothly". This god is worshipped when one starts a new project.

**Holi**
Holi is a festival that is celebrated in one night and one day. On the night before the day of Holi, bonfires are lit and pictures of Holika (female demon) are burned. The people celebrating Holi throw coins into the fire and coconuts are roasted. People also put ashes on their foreheads to bring happiness for the upcoming year. On the next morning, people wear their old clothes because that day is the day of the throwing of colored powder, paints, or water atone another. Everyone participates in Holi and no one leaves the streets withoutcolors on their faces at the end of the day. The reason for this is because it is considered good luck to be covered in colors. It is the most fun festival of the year and it is definitely noticeable because there is so much noise and excitement in the streets. This is also a day when all caste is forgotten. So a maid could hit a rich man or women and have no fear of being punished.

**Diwali** Diwali is known as the festival of lights. It is celebrated in honor of the hindu goddess Lakshmi- The goddess of wealth and properity. Diwali is looked upon as a "new year for business", meaning, if you have any debts, they should be payed, and new account books should be started Divas are little clay lamps that are lighted and put outside hindu houses or in the windows. Divas are also floated downriver in little "boats" made of leaves of coconut shells that take them out to sea. Also on this holiday, people go to see their friends and family. They give platters of candy as presents and divvy up foods. Diwali is a happy time where the people decorate their houses, send out greeting cards, dress in new clothes, and offer food at the nearest temple.

Isthmian Games
the isthmian games are made of athletic and musical competitions. These competitions happen to honor Poseidon. These games happen in the spring time and are open to all Greeks. These games are most popular in Athens. For the winner of these fixtures they are awarded a pine wreath, which were sacred to poseidon. Although people still know about these games, they died out in the fourth century.

Thargelia
Thargelia was a festival of Apollo held in Athens on the 6th and 7th of Thargelion (late May). It was both a vegetation festival and a ritual expiation of communal guilt.

The first day of the festival featured the cathartic rite of the //pharmakos// (scapegoat). One or two persons, male or female, were selected to be a scapegoat. They were usually criminals or outcasts, but occasionally an important person would sacrifice himself or herself for the city. The scapegoat was fed, led through town, then expelled from the city. In times of severe calamity, the scapegoat might be thrown off a cliff, cast into the sea, or sacrificed on a funeral pyre. The rite of the pharmakos cleansed the town and prepared for the new harvest.

Thargelia also included a first-fruits sacrifice in which a pot of the first grains were offered to the gods.This was the act that officially kicked off the harvest season. The festival concluded with a procession and the official registration of adopted persons.

Hindu Wedding Ceremony
A Hindu wedding consists of several rituals and due to this a wedding usually takes several hours to complete. There are many types of actual ceremonies that you can choose from and they all have to do with different gods and goddesses.

Some of the rituals that are performed at a wedding are Anna Praashan. This is when the bride and groom feed food to the fire and then to each other. Pratigna- Karan is when they walk around the fire with the bride leading. They make promises to each other of loyalty, love and fidelity. Vivah- Homa is the fire ceremony to make sure the marriage starts in an atmosphere of purity and spirituality.

Greek Funeral/Burial
An ancient Greek burial has two main stages: the Prothesis and the Ekphora. Women of the deceased’s family give the ceremony. The body is dressed and then put on display for family and friends to come and mourn. After the Prothesis the body is taken to the cemetery in another procession (Ekphora). This takes place just before sunrise. When they are buried they do not put that many belongings in with them.

**Bibliography**

Senker, Cath. Winter: December, January, and February. Italy: Arcturus Publishing, 2005, pg. 24-5

Dupont, Ellen. India. Connecticut: Groiler Educational, 1999

Steele, Philip. The World of Festivals. U.S.A: Rand McNally, 1996, pg. 9

Pandya, Meenal. Here Comes Holi: The Festival of Colors. Massachusetts: MeeRa Publications, 2003

“Hindu Holidays and Festivals.” religionfacts.com. 28 April 2011 [|**http://religionfacts.com/hinduism/holidays.htm**]

“Death, Burial, and Afterlife in Ancient Greece.” metmuseum.org. 19 May 2011 []