23/feb theyam & poorakali
It’s good to have destination, a goal to reach, because then if you decide to take not the fastest way, you find yourself enjoying the way in itself. And then, the goal will come, if it was meant to come. I had one of these places to reach, unknown, and not extremely easy to reach. And my way towards that place, that house, was a very interesting way, since I took paths I would never take, far from the main areas, and where no-one speak a word of English. My Malayalam it’s to bad to understand their answers!! Dirt tracks (camins de terra), houses with garden, animals, and fortunately, lots of shadows, since the trees were big! In this area (and on the last few days) I havn’t seen any house made by mud and palm leaves.
My destination, a theyam. I arrive too early, and I decided to sit down, leaning on the back part of a house. After a couple of minutes, I was inside their house having breakfast with them, I sort of strange porridge with sugar, coconut and banana, and a chai, a tea with a lot of sugar and milk. After that their neighbor offered me a coconut, and the water of it was very cool!
At 11:30, the theyam was ready, in a house nearby. First theyam of my life. More than 400 people, sitting on the yard of that community house, under the shadow. Women on the ground, men standing or sitting on chairs. Women on the right, men on the left. The theyam is a religious ceremony, done by necessity. When a family has economical problems, or someone is sick, the talk to the Brahmins, priests, and those organize everything. The ones that ‘represent’ these theyams, are from a specific cast, and after starving for a few days, they enter in a sort of trance, and they think they are avatars of the gods. Other people also believe they are gods. A few Brahmins play percussions, other help to put the make up and to dress the gods. Lots of colors, and strange clothes. In this theyam, the gods were chamundi and vishnumurti. An avatar is an image of god. A hindu god have plenty of avatar, of representations. People doesn’t pray to the gods, since for them they are already here, talking to them, giving answers to their problems.
Each god has 7 or 8 brahmins playing for him, sometimes very very loud, and the rhythm changes very often. Gods follow the rhythm while dancing. They get close to the people, and people are scared, after they run away, talking non-stop, many times just shouting. The walk barefoot on the fire, and people throw them rice, while the gods make jingle the bells, and used their weapons; arrows, archs, swords, tridents…. Suddenly a group of old women started throwing flowers over the gods, with a lot of passion, and absolute belief. All these things can decide the future of that family. Sometimes the music stops, and the gods start talking with the men of the family. Sometimes gods talk to eachother. And at the end, they sacrificed 3 chickens, cutting their heads, and mixed their blood with water, and throwing the water on the floor afterwards. They are really possessed!
Then they started giving rice, and people became mad, since everyone wanted that blessed rice. Today, I can say, I’ve seen people talking to god.
After that and a few more ceremonies, lunch time. The queue was very long!! And even if I started waiting like everyone, they told me to sit and they served me the food. I wasn’t that happy with that, but I had to follow their rules. Of course, the food was for free also.
And again, today, I can say, I ‘ve traveled in the time. This is a very old ceremony, and the people, their clothes, the colors, the atmosphere, the surrounding, music… everything was… amazing. And I was invisible. And very fortunate to be there.
After the theyam and on my way home, I was invited to a poorakali representation, a religious dance with children boys and men. They dance, sing and clap their hand around a blessed trunk. The 4 cardinal points are also blessed by the Brahmin. So they start going around on one direction, and then to the other, singing slower and faster, making movements more difficult every time… for one hour. After that, they invited me to have dinner with them, and when I was going to sit on the ground with the others, they placed me on a sort of pedestal, one meter above the ground level, and they all sat making a half moon surrounding me. They could be around 35 men and 10 women eating there (women only after cooking), and all of them looking at me. Fortunatelly the food was great and easy to eat with the hands. They offered me a spoon, but a refused. After that, a ginger coffee, very good. Unfortunately no-one spoke English, so we spent the whole dinner looking at eachother’s faces, and smiling. Everytime I was trying to say something, the started laughing!! After shaking all 35 people hands, they took me to the main road, since this place was a little bit hidden, and I think it wasn’t that safe. I would like to know if one day we’ll see immigrants in these way, as guests. But of course, they will never look at me and think I’m one of them… well!
I didn’t spend a rupees in the whole day today!
So well, responding to that sentence ‘ India, either you love it or hate it’, I would say that if you hate it it’s just because of a lack of interest in India, because they have so much to give and offer, always with a smile in their faces, making you even feel sometimes guilty about their problems and poverty. Your mind must be open, remembering that this is not our clean and ‘perfect’ Europe. This one is being the most intense trip of my life, where I’ve been more in contact with the people, and where I’ve seen the most amazing things. This is another world, another way of looking towards life, full of spirituality, of traditions, beliefs, details and colors… of course is not the perfect paradise, for them I mean, but there is potential, and I hope that poverty, sex differences, casts, dirtiness… will soon be only on our memory.
When I thought that I was going to sleep, I met 5 guys in my hotel, very open people. We finished trying the traditional clothes of north kerala on me! White lungie (pareo) with a color stripe, and neckerchief or shawl on the shoulders. We took a few funny pictures, because even if they weren’t children, the became mad when they saw the digital camera.
What a day!!!!!1
11/3/05
My destination, a theyam. I arrive too early, and I decided to sit down, leaning on the back part of a house. After a couple of minutes, I was inside their house having breakfast with them, I sort of strange porridge with sugar, coconut and banana, and a chai, a tea with a lot of sugar and milk. After that their neighbor offered me a coconut, and the water of it was very cool!
At 11:30, the theyam was ready, in a house nearby. First theyam of my life. More than 400 people, sitting on the yard of that community house, under the shadow. Women on the ground, men standing or sitting on chairs. Women on the right, men on the left. The theyam is a religious ceremony, done by necessity. When a family has economical problems, or someone is sick, the talk to the Brahmins, priests, and those organize everything. The ones that ‘represent’ these theyams, are from a specific cast, and after starving for a few days, they enter in a sort of trance, and they think they are avatars of the gods. Other people also believe they are gods. A few Brahmins play percussions, other help to put the make up and to dress the gods. Lots of colors, and strange clothes. In this theyam, the gods were chamundi and vishnumurti. An avatar is an image of god. A hindu god have plenty of avatar, of representations. People doesn’t pray to the gods, since for them they are already here, talking to them, giving answers to their problems.
Each god has 7 or 8 brahmins playing for him, sometimes very very loud, and the rhythm changes very often. Gods follow the rhythm while dancing. They get close to the people, and people are scared, after they run away, talking non-stop, many times just shouting. The walk barefoot on the fire, and people throw them rice, while the gods make jingle the bells, and used their weapons; arrows, archs, swords, tridents…. Suddenly a group of old women started throwing flowers over the gods, with a lot of passion, and absolute belief. All these things can decide the future of that family. Sometimes the music stops, and the gods start talking with the men of the family. Sometimes gods talk to eachother. And at the end, they sacrificed 3 chickens, cutting their heads, and mixed their blood with water, and throwing the water on the floor afterwards. They are really possessed!
Then they started giving rice, and people became mad, since everyone wanted that blessed rice. Today, I can say, I’ve seen people talking to god.
After that and a few more ceremonies, lunch time. The queue was very long!! And even if I started waiting like everyone, they told me to sit and they served me the food. I wasn’t that happy with that, but I had to follow their rules. Of course, the food was for free also.
And again, today, I can say, I ‘ve traveled in the time. This is a very old ceremony, and the people, their clothes, the colors, the atmosphere, the surrounding, music… everything was… amazing. And I was invisible. And very fortunate to be there.
After the theyam and on my way home, I was invited to a poorakali representation, a religious dance with children boys and men. They dance, sing and clap their hand around a blessed trunk. The 4 cardinal points are also blessed by the Brahmin. So they start going around on one direction, and then to the other, singing slower and faster, making movements more difficult every time… for one hour. After that, they invited me to have dinner with them, and when I was going to sit on the ground with the others, they placed me on a sort of pedestal, one meter above the ground level, and they all sat making a half moon surrounding me. They could be around 35 men and 10 women eating there (women only after cooking), and all of them looking at me. Fortunatelly the food was great and easy to eat with the hands. They offered me a spoon, but a refused. After that, a ginger coffee, very good. Unfortunately no-one spoke English, so we spent the whole dinner looking at eachother’s faces, and smiling. Everytime I was trying to say something, the started laughing!! After shaking all 35 people hands, they took me to the main road, since this place was a little bit hidden, and I think it wasn’t that safe. I would like to know if one day we’ll see immigrants in these way, as guests. But of course, they will never look at me and think I’m one of them… well!
I didn’t spend a rupees in the whole day today!
So well, responding to that sentence ‘ India, either you love it or hate it’, I would say that if you hate it it’s just because of a lack of interest in India, because they have so much to give and offer, always with a smile in their faces, making you even feel sometimes guilty about their problems and poverty. Your mind must be open, remembering that this is not our clean and ‘perfect’ Europe. This one is being the most intense trip of my life, where I’ve been more in contact with the people, and where I’ve seen the most amazing things. This is another world, another way of looking towards life, full of spirituality, of traditions, beliefs, details and colors… of course is not the perfect paradise, for them I mean, but there is potential, and I hope that poverty, sex differences, casts, dirtiness… will soon be only on our memory.
When I thought that I was going to sleep, I met 5 guys in my hotel, very open people. We finished trying the traditional clothes of north kerala on me! White lungie (pareo) with a color stripe, and neckerchief or shawl on the shoulders. We took a few funny pictures, because even if they weren’t children, the became mad when they saw the digital camera.
What a day!!!!!1
11/3/05
posted by Unknown at 15:47
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