Group Discussion- Do we really need religious celebrations in public?

Religion is here to stay and it has by now become part of human existence , all over the world. It is also true that there is a vast difference between eastern and Western religions . It is interesting to note that India is the place where Buddhism, Sikkhism and Jainism took their birth and have survived alongside of Hinduism . Islam and Christianity, both of which took their birth in Asia  too have same roots although as they grew into different Faiths , developed totally different identities.

 Religious celebrations are no doubt  a way of continuing the customs and traditions which enrich our lives . In many European countries and in other developed nations religion does not overpower people's identity like it does in India and other developing countries. It is only when we reach a state where we are able to focus on progress and let  religion and religious celebrations take a back seat , can we call ourselves a developing economy .Because , to me religion proves to be a stumbling block to many progressive ideas that can take our country forward.

suni51 wrote:

@Arjun Sai Police protection for Holi? Policemen offially celebrate Holi the next day and the way they do it is something scary to watch. They behave even worse within police stations.

Correct Sir . What alternatives we have Sir ? I really get panic a policeman stops me while I am riding a scooter on road even though I am not a thief , I have valid licence, registration number, insurance. It's just because I have seen those policeman slap or hit random passerby for no reason but just to find a fault and grab Rs 500-1000 as bribe .

It is not only about a public celebration during major festivals. Sometimes many people cause nonsense in daily life due to their illogical ways to please God. Be it loudspeakers at temple or mosque.

I have a family from North India living as tenant in the next door. I do not want to name the community to which they belong as I do not want to demean any caste or state. Now it is a joint family and they claim to be very religious. Every month they have some pooja and they have kirthanna going for long four days. They scream their lungs out and mock the bhajans on tune of some Bollywood numbers. They keep their front door open and it disturbs all. Everyone tolerates them on the account of not hurting their sentiments. It is a nonsense especially when it is exam time for kids. I have politely asked them to close their door but they give me a look as if I am going to be cursed by their God. 

Once the gas cylinder in their home got over in the morning. I had to leave for my job but this old aunty asked me ( ordered and not requested) to wait till she boils milk to offer it to her Bal Gopal. Out of courtesy and respect for elderly I let them come in and boil it in my kitchen. She entered and gave a dirty look to me as my kitchen was smelling of egg omlette. She ordered me to clean my shelf and stove with detergent. I was all dressed up to leave for job and being a teacher I can not afford to get late. She gave a look as if she does not care. I asked her to call her daughter in law to clean it. To my surprise, she replied that no bod in her house will touch egg and I only have to clean it and let her boil the milk for her thakur. She gave a big lecture as how I was going against the culture and displeasing God. Finally to avoid further useless argument I withstood that and did it for her. And I was delayed to school.

Last week I saw her posting some advertisement for some swami and Pooja in ashram in all the lifts. We have a notice board in our buildings and you have to pay Rs100 to put an advertisement or some invitation there. She chose a free way ad stick it in elevator. I tore the paper with image of Krishna on it and gave it to her and politely told that they can not stick things like this everywhere. It is not allowed. She got a bit angry. Next day again the stickers were there. Finally I had to complain and her sons were caught sticking it on Staircases and lift in CCTV footage. Now she gives me a dirty look whenever she looks at me.

@arjun here they check if the person is drunk or not as during festive season few people drink and drive.

Yes its irritating when they stop and ask for the documents. Here they don't take bribe unless you have broken any traffic rule 

Specially during diwali when many of the people drink and drive which they should not do.

Similarly on holi people forcefully apply color on your face and throw water filled balloons which cause accidents  I don't know what people get through this. We should improve ourself so that we may enjoy the festivals. 

I feel that some benefits of celebrating festivals in public places is that it make us more tolerant about people of other faiths in our societies. It also make us more curious to know about the culture and practises of other faiths. And often people of other religions also take parts in these festivals happily.

Yesterday I was watching a video of Ganpati procession inside a church. It so happened that the priest was seeking permission whether they can take the procession in front of the church as it was the prayer time in church. The authority in church asked them to bring it inside for few minutes so that both the Gods can meet. It was such a beautiful way of celebration.

Diwali is a festival of lights. In the month of December, we will be celebrating the Diwali festival. It is also one of the main festival for Hindus which is celebrated in groups. People gather together in localities to light crackers and fireworks. Lighting crackers sometimes creates nuisance in public as some mischievous children try to fire crackers directing at someone's house.   That happened a few years ago, that few children were lighting rockets, directing at someone's house for prank. This aggrieved the owner of the house. Children who use firecrackers should be taught the proper use of them before they light it outside so that they do not harm anyone or disturb the peace of mind of others. Diwali is an excellent festival which is celebrated in public and it symbolizes love and brotherhood, if it is celebrated responsibly.

Well said Sunil, I think few persons aware about Holi celebration of Police force. They celebrate Holi next day at police line. Celebration of Holi festival of police is a good example of corruption. Then never spend single rupee out their pocket. They arrange all thing from others. They collect cash donation, wine, sound system and all facilities from public. Holi is festival of color but for police it festival  of wine. All senior officer attends and enjoy this festival but never dare to check, from where all these arranged. Think for moment, persons who are supplies wine, sound system, sweets and other facilities will recovers for it many times. It is also reason that police always treats  these persons, like son-in-law.

Since all religions preach the same thing , it is not difficult for them to come together rather than oppose one another . It is the politicians and certain religious leaders regardless of which religion they belong to , who spoil the harmony and mutual trust between people. I remember a time when we had one of the worst Hindu- Muslim communal riots in my town and the whole city and district closed down with curfew being imposed all through the day. In my locality consisting predominantly of Hindus and Christians, there were just two Muslim families living and were understandably very scared. All of us stood with them and made sure they were safe . Religion without humanity is of no use to the society. 

When we reach a stage where we participate in each other's celebrations we can truly call ourselves a secular and progressive society .

I remember when I was a child I never heard of Ganesh Chaturthi or Sai Sandhya in Delhi. Also durga pooja too was very rare to see being celebrated nearby my house but these days these are celebrated everywhere and pandals can be seen everywhere during these festivals. 

It seems people have become more religious or they are more in to the showbiz these days.

I am not against the people celebrating them but they should not make problems to others by it. 

One of the benefit of celebrating festivals together is that it develops a sense of responsibilities. For instance, in my locality whenever its time for festivals that has to be celebrated commonly by the local people such as Lai haraoba or sports during holi, every households get ready to organise it in a successful manner. It is understood that it's a collective responsibilities. So generally every households sends a member or two as volunteers for organising it. The volunteers would be given different tasks including donation drives within the locality, cleaning of the place, decorations etc.

As far as I know, Drinking and gambling are not promoted by any religious celebrations. But we see a lot of people going for gambling on Diwali night with a belief that if they hit a jackpot or win, they will have fortune/laxmi flowing in all through the year. We never had such gambling nights in our family during Diwali celebration. Diwali was limited to cleaning, cooking, pooja, lighting lamps and a few crackers. Now people go ahead with sound celebration. Malls are flooded with offers and gifts. People go for gambling and even loose to great extent. Celebration post Pooja involves drinking and gambling which just kills the real ethics of Diwali. And not to forget wasting a huge amount on crackers causing noise pollution and air pollution. So much of commercialism and consumerism  of a festival.

While growing in Delhi, I remember Holi celebration became a nonsense for females. I as college girl felt unsafe to step out. Goons would come out on bikes, throw water filled balloons on young girls and pass on sexist comments. On Holi, people will be drunk and misbehaving on streets.

Such celebrations are not a part of any religion and no religion advocates it. They are just results of abusing your democratic rights in garb of religious celebrations.

 Many belief are also associtated with festivals, and with passing of time some evils also come. Holi   festival is associated with Lord Krishna and Depawali is with Lord Rama. So how these festivals are bad. It is the peoples who make these bad. In my childhood it was rule that we play color only till 12 Am on holi and come back to home. After bath we went to relative and friends to say Happy holi. We never used balloons. At present peoples play hole till the evening. Fashion of drinking wine is increasing although Holi is a dry day. Our festivals are our identity, we must be celebrate these with grace and enjoy festivals of all religions.

Just like religion of Hinduism, many festivals of Islam are also celebrated in public. There was a news that on Friday, which is religious day for Muslims many people throng at Jams Masjid in Delhi. The road in front of the Masjid becomes very crowded and some people even do prayer on road since the space in Masjid fills up which causes huge problems in commute. The police does not take any action because they are from minority group and the issue can become sensitive if police interferes. It is the responsibility of everyone to be a good citizen and do their part so that they don't affect the life of other people in a negative way. I hope that everyone understands this fact that we are all connected and whatever we do impacts others in some way or the other.

Just like religion of Hinduism, many festivals of Islam are also celebrated in public. There was a news that on Friday, which is religious day for Muslims many people throng at Jams Masjid in Delhi. The road in front of the Masjid becomes very crowded and some people even do prayer on road since the space in Masjid fills up which causes huge problems in commute. The police does not take any action because they are from minority group and the issue can become sensitive if police interferes. It is the responsibility of everyone to be a good citizen and do their part so that they don't affect the life of other people in a negative way. I hope that everyone understands this fact that we are all connected and whatever we do impacts others in some way or the other.

Celebration of festivals in public areas also have certain demerits. As the other members have rightly pointed out a poorly managed festivals leads to increase in pollutions and also cause inconveniences to others.  Apart from these, incidents of stampedes may also take place when large numbers of devotees gathers. For instances, the worst stampede case occurred In 2015 in Mecca which caused deaths of 2000 followers. Similarly there have been various incidents in which devotees were killed or injured in stampedes occurring at Kumbh mela or Dusshera.

The worst downside that I see in public celebration is clashes in between the castes and religions. It's kind of of one upmanship which leads to disturbances and chaos in the society. There is not a single festively in recent past when two different religious of communities not objected to rout of the procession or the way they wanted to celebrate it. It always ended in few left dead and dozens injured. Are we really increasing peace, harmony and brotherhood by public celebration of festivals? 

The society is now divided into BSP, SP, BJP, Congress, TMC, Communist, MANSE, North Indian, South Indian etc etc, rather than group of people supposed to celebrate their functions in a peaceful way. 

@ Arunima Singh--Absolutely thats true. On holi its tough for girls to step out of home as people are drunk and comment on them. They try to apply color on them forcefully and that is why there is patrolling of police everywhere and police don't allow to play holi after 12 pm. 

Gambling on diwali is a tradition what people believe so they play it. But they forget that its not good to gamble. 

Drinking on these festivals is very common thats why government declare dry days on these days so that minimum people drink. 

To conclude I would like to say that we should introspect and ask ourselves why we are celebrating a particular festival and what is the motive behind it. We should try to question that in our celebration are we trying to harm someone's dignity and peace of mind ? If the answer is yes then we should try to amend our ways. If burning of crackers disturbs the old people living in your locality then we should should use low sound crackers. If giving Bali of camel , goat or sheep on road on occasion of Eid festival creates anguish in minds of people of other religion then probably the Bali should be done in secluded place or one can follow footsteps of a family in Maharashtra who used cake in shape of goat to give Bali as this will not disturb anyone's feelings. Indian festival are essence of Indian culture let's celebrate them responsibly.

The final say regarding religious celebrations , according to me is that they are an essential part of our culture and tradition. It has become a way of life for the masses. Celebrations like Deepavali and Christmas go beyond religion. My children while they were in school had many Catholic friends and we too would have a small Christmas tree in our house because they were keen on having one . My neighbors, a muslim family who have been living here for more than 20 years , take part in Deepavali and Onam celebrated by other neighbors and we do the same during their festivals like Id  . But these are done at home and do not cause any inconvenience to others.

More importantly , we can make charity a part of our celebrations by giving either clothes or cash to the less fortunate who serve us in different ways . 

To conclude, what I feel is that celebrating festivals in public places can be done if people follow the regulations and don't cause inconvenience to others. Festivals when celebrated with our near and dear ones can be full of enjoyments. But we cannot avoid celebrating certain festivals in a grand manner at public places. In such situations, the organisers should consider whether it is harming the environment and other people. And if so,can the rituals be modified? There is no harm in adopting a better practises and leaving behind bad ones.