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

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.

Today is final day of this discussion. We Indian and India are known for Ganga Jamuna culture. All our festivals are adhesive which bond  we people of different religions and festivals. All festivals are full with enjoy. It is who make these a problem. In topic it is question gathering of peoples on religious festival at public place. All religious festival are of public, not private and roads are also of public, these are private. So we must be adjust and keep patience when we face jams and crowd due to any festivals. Our religious festival is also important for economy. Depawali, Id, Christmas and Gurupurab and all other festivals boost up to business. Festivals also means of employment..

On final day of conclusion I would like to say that festivals form a great part of our culture and the celebration is a way to show our reverence to life and to it's joy. Sharing our joy doubles it and that holds true for celebrations in groups. There is nothing wrong in public celebrations as long as the real essence of it is not lost and it does not turn out to be a ruckus for others. Especially, in India where anything can be given a communal color and cause political clashes, one should go responsibly with the celebration. At no point, the civic responsibility can be compromised. Our celebration should not become life threatening to others. 

Also the number of huge public celebrations should be limited. As it is not good to have inconvenience every now and then and police have other important things to do.

I totally agree with Usha that Christmas and Deepavali has gone beyond religion. I have  a huge preparation of Christmas as I have for Ganesha, Diwali or Navratri. It has become a part of my celebration. 

So to conclude I would say that my faith and religion is my identity and is very personal to me. Celebration bring joy to life ans at no point it should take away joy of others. 

Sorry for the delay but I was too busy with my offline activities. All the members that participated have been paid.

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PS- The members not following the rules should be more careful in next rounds of discussions please. Thank you all.