Nopes, not the usual...
As years pass by I become more and more curious as in why we do the way we do. As rightly said Hinduism is a way of life and not only a religion. Why not live that way rather than move to something else.
This maybe trickles to festivals as well. Rather than having some old man distributing gifts, or killing an animal to attend "the moksha", festivals in Hinduism are more deeply rooted in nature and each having a reason as in why they are celebrated.
Today's example is makar sankranti. It is celebrated in different avatars in India but the base is the same. Food centered around harvest and of course til/ sesame. The reason: sesame warms the body and january bieng the coldest month, the warmth of sesame protects against cold. Not only this, the preparations (especially laddus) are made small, to be savoured bit by bit rather than a big laddu like boondi as a small marble of a seasme laddoo is powerhouse of energy.
The seeds are sprinkled on unleavened bread while cooking, so that they give a lovely taste to the end product. Bajra (which is also warmth inducing) rotis are preferred and so is jaggery .
One such thing that attracted me to it was bhogi (firsts day of sankranti) chi bhaji, which is a mix vegetable preparation. Found more or less in whole India in some form or the other and Khichidi.
Surely next year I will explore bhogi chi bhaji but till then lets eat til laddoo...
Till then, "tilgul ghya, god bola"
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