India is a land of many ethnic groups, each with its own unique culture, and even national holidays like New Year's Day are celebrated in a variety of ways.
Actually, New Year's Day is not a traditional Hindu or Hindu calendar holiday. However, with the passage of time and social changes, more and more Indians, like people in other countries around the world, are joining parties and cultural performances to celebrate the New Year.
In the early morning of January 1, people will carry small lanterns and "red powder bags" to go out to greet the elderly, relatives and friends, meet each other, say goodbye, and put red dots on the middle of each other's foreheads to show good luck.
However, there are still many unique ways of celebrating that have been passed down. For example, in some parts of India, people fast for a day and a night to welcome the New Year. In other places, there is a "cry instead of laughter", because the locals believe that welcoming the New Year with crying can express the feeling of the passing of life. It is precisely because of this different custom that the Indian New Year is also said to be "crying on New Year's Day".
In fact, the famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore's poem "New Year's Wishes" is one of the masterpieces that laments the transience of life on New Year's Day. "Oh, traveler, the old night is exhausted, and at last it has left the world. The sun that shines on your path brings with it the call – the singing of praise to Shiva. The ** on the reticulated Qianmo is long, desolate, and tends to be weak. There seems to be a lost monk, playing a mournful monochord. Of course, this writer did not blindly mourn the passing of time, but in a wise and philosophical way, he persuaded everyone to look forward to the future and not to look back.
Interestingly, although later generations often used Tagore's "New Year's Wishes" to express emotions, it has also been pointed out that Tagore originally intended to write not the Gregorian New Year, but the traditional New Year in the traditional Indian calendar.
In India, the seemingly simple question of "which day is the New Year" is actually difficult to answer. Each region and nation in India has its own calendar, and naturally there are different "New Year's" in it. Even today, the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra follow the ancient calendar and celebrate the New Year around March 22 of the Gregorian calendar. In addition, there are some festivals that have nothing to do with the beginning of the new year in the calendar, but they also carry the mission of removing the old and welcoming the new, which can be regarded as a new year in another sense.
In the case of Rabindranath Tagore, his father's initiative of the "September Fair" is a reflection of the history and culture of Bangladesh, and it is also an annual traditional festival in the peaceful village of West Bengal State. The September Harvest begins on the 7th day of the Bengal harvest season and usually lasts for 4 days around December 24 in the Gregorian calendar. Naturally, the pioneers of this festival are not forgotten by those who celebrate the festival. There are often schools that organize teachers and students to learn from the legendary way of Tagore's father practicing and thinking about life under the tree, sit together in nature, listen to the students on the stage sing songs related to Tagore, and remember the ancestors while praying for blessings.
Because of this, it has been suggested that Tagore was probably thinking of the September Festival a few days before the Gregorian New Year's Day when he wrote "New Year's Wishes". However, some people believe that this poem is a common gift to "all New Year", after all, in the hearts of many Indians, important traditional festivals such as Holi and Diwali also have the meaning of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.
365 days a year, 366 days in the holidays", this statement sounds witty, but it also reflects the current situation in India. Behind the complex festivals, people of different faiths and cultural backgrounds are full of desire for a better life, and are sincerely looking forward to it and working hard.
Back to the Gregorian New Year. With the economic and social development, the New Year's Eve celebrations in many big cities in India are becoming more and more modern. Compared to the traditional small lanterns hanging in every house, the neon lights and projection screens in the big cities are more gorgeous. In Mumbai, for example, the scene on Chinese New Year's Eve looks no different from other cosmopolitan cities. People gather to count down and cheer to the changes in the numbers on the New Year's countdown board, and many take off their shoes on the beach and stand in the water to laugh with friends they don't know. When the countdown is over, the bells are ringing, and the beaches, roads, and overpasses are all boiling to the cheers of "Happy New Year".
New Year's Day represents the beginning of a new year, and it is not only a time for countries around the world to celebrate together, but also a special time for many people to look forward to life and the future. Although the New Year is celebrated in different ways, civilizations, countries, nations, and regions have many things in common, whether it is joy and joy, melancholy and sadness.
The date of the New Year changes with the change of the calendar, and the way people celebrate the New Year has changed with the progress of the times, but what has not changed is the expectations for the future. Whether it's longing for peace, hoping for a bountiful harvest, or looking forward to a better day with their families, people will always feel the power of hope and give their laughter and tears to it.
Rabindranath Tagore said, "Every step of the frustration is an invisible and priceless tribute to you." "On the occasion of the New Year, when the lights are shining, I believe that this sentence will inspire all living beings over and over again, wash away the dust of the past, and move towards a better future in the dimension of time. (This article**: Economy** Author: Shi Puhao).