In India many ismailis celebrate holi and diwali along with their hindu freinds similarly in U.S.A many ismailis attend christmas party and celebrate christmas.
What do you think about that. Share your opinion that is it right to celebrate festivals of other religions?
festivals of other religion
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star_munir
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anilalaudine
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Yam,If im not mistaken, it was MHI that said that we should try to create a bridge between our faith and other faiths, therefore i not only belive that is correct for an ismaili to attend other religons festivals as we should invite other people to our festivals as well, i cannot see a better way to create that "bridge"as in a happy and chearfull ocasion as the religiouse festivals.I am always welcomed in cristian homes during this xmas ocasion, and i also attended hindu festivals, and in no time have i felt that i am less an ismaili for that, so i also invite my non ismaili friends to our festivals and activities.I strongly believe that this is one of the pricipal pilars for an ismaili, and in fact for any HUMAN BEING, accept everyone for who they are and be proud of who you are.
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star_munir
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Sorry for waking up an old thread:
Christmas was my favorite holiday back then. No school for couple weeks, drink hot chocolate, play ice hockey...Just pure innocent fun.
It doesn't even feel like Christmas anymore. When i was a little kid in the 80's, it felt like Christmas then. Smiles on peoples faces, there was hardly any stealing or ripping anyone off. It was a time to spend with your friends and family. Although no gifts were ever exchanged, people seemed to be in the spirit. After all, Christmas is all about spending time with families. There is just so much going on now, economy, war, killings, etc. People are starting to question about Jesus being born in December. How can he born in December? It was a cold month and shepherds could not have flocked their sheep's during cold months. (Sheep's would die of cold)
Christmas was celebrated long before Jesus existed. It was a pagan holiday.(so it wasn't really called Christmas either it was called Saturnalia) honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture.
It was actually celebrated with huge feasts, gifts and drinking!!!
In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. He was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.
The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.
Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual.
So, keep celebrating Christmas and enjoy it. Remember, were here to build bridges with our neighbors
Christmas was my favorite holiday back then. No school for couple weeks, drink hot chocolate, play ice hockey...Just pure innocent fun.
It doesn't even feel like Christmas anymore. When i was a little kid in the 80's, it felt like Christmas then. Smiles on peoples faces, there was hardly any stealing or ripping anyone off. It was a time to spend with your friends and family. Although no gifts were ever exchanged, people seemed to be in the spirit. After all, Christmas is all about spending time with families. There is just so much going on now, economy, war, killings, etc. People are starting to question about Jesus being born in December. How can he born in December? It was a cold month and shepherds could not have flocked their sheep's during cold months. (Sheep's would die of cold)
Christmas was celebrated long before Jesus existed. It was a pagan holiday.(so it wasn't really called Christmas either it was called Saturnalia) honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture.
It was actually celebrated with huge feasts, gifts and drinking!!!
In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. He was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.
The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.
Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual.
So, keep celebrating Christmas and enjoy it. Remember, were here to build bridges with our neighbors
I mark/observe the festivals of other cultures and religions in the workplace out of diplomacy (e.g. Christmas, Diwali), so the Whites and Hindus don't discriminate against me because I am South Asian and Muslim. In other words, based on previous experience, I don't want them marking me out as the 'perpetual outsider'. It feels that I have to kiss their backsides - I find myself constantly sucking up to Christians, Jews, Whites, Orientals, Hindus, Sikhs about their cultures, religions, national holidays etc. expressing an interest (or, I present the image of interest) in whatever they are celebrating that week. I don't, as a South Asian Muslim/Isamili, impose or bring my culture or religion into the workplace because I see as a 'neutral space'. But, other races, cultures and religions do. It makes me sick beacuse, more than anything, there is no reason whatsoever to bring it into the workplace.
I give them cards and presents so they think I'm OK as a South Asian and as a Muslim. If I could, I wouldn't bother with Christmas and Diwali. These are just empty, pointless cultural and commercial festivals which mean little to me. At my work, the firm sends out emails about Western, Christian, Jewish and Hindu festivals but none about Muslim festivals. But, I know, again based on previous experience, that if I discuss my South Asian/northern Indian cultural heritage, or the origin of my parents, or my
Islamic faith (even if it's based on Ismailism), I will get a negative reaction from non-South Asians and non-Muslims.
I give them cards and presents so they think I'm OK as a South Asian and as a Muslim. If I could, I wouldn't bother with Christmas and Diwali. These are just empty, pointless cultural and commercial festivals which mean little to me. At my work, the firm sends out emails about Western, Christian, Jewish and Hindu festivals but none about Muslim festivals. But, I know, again based on previous experience, that if I discuss my South Asian/northern Indian cultural heritage, or the origin of my parents, or my
Islamic faith (even if it's based on Ismailism), I will get a negative reaction from non-South Asians and non-Muslims.
Re: festivals of other religion
So you’re celebrating Diwali now
By Lauren Jackson
Good morning, and happy Sunday.
My boyfriend, Harj, was raised Sikh in Tasmania, the wild island floating between Australia and Antarctica. He and his family of seven were the only Sikhs for hundreds of miles. He wore a turban — patka — until age 12, when he took it off and cut his long hair for the first time. In the years since, he has drifted from the rituals of his childhood and now identifies as agnostic.
But Diwali, the South Asian festival of lights that is celebrated by more than a billion Hindus, Jains and Sikhs worldwide, keeps appearing in his life. It starts tomorrow, and there are celebrations in both of our workplaces. Secular friends are wishing Harj a happy holiday. It’s made him pause and wonder: What is my relationship to this holiday? How should I celebrate it?
He isn’t alone. Many people are asking those same questions as the holiday becomes more popular in Western countries.
A crowd of people celebrating Diwali. A woman at the front of the crowd raises her hands.
A Diwali celebration in Trafalgar Square in London last week. Jaimi Joy/Reuters
Diwali’s popularity
Yogesh Patel, 69, has always celebrated Diwali — as a boy in Kenya, as a teenager in Zambia and as an adult in Britain. But until recently, he had not celebrated with so many white people.
Over the past several years, large numbers of visitors have traveled to see the marbled Hindu temple that rises above the marshes of northwest London, where Patel has been a volunteer for about four decades. They arrive by the busload from schools and foreign countries like Germany and Spain, he said. This Diwali, he expects even more curious — and hungry — visitors to join the crowds of about 30,000 Hindus praying and feasting at the temple tomorrow.
“Non-Hindus visit us during Diwali to see the spectacle,” he said. They’re drawn to the fireworks that explode over the temple’s white spires, to the stalls full of samosas and to the saffron marigold garlands that dangle in front of jewel-encrusted shrines.
Diwali is growing in popularity in Western countries, where millions of people have immigrated from India in recent decades. (By the way, the w is pronounced with more of a v sound — duh-VAH-lee.) It has become an official holiday in three states : California, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. New York City public schools are closed for Diwali, as are many school districts in New Jersey. The Opera House in Sydney just lit up for the holiday. Celebrities are throwing Diwali balls. In Britain, King Charles, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and fashion labels are all celebrating.
“It’s a rare time that non-Hindus engage with the Hindu faith,” said Tilak Parekh, a researcher at University of Cambridge. India has the largest diaspora in the world . The growing presence of Indians abroad, Parekh said, along with a push for inclusivity over the past decade, has raised the holiday’s profile.
A time for renewal
Diwali is a celebration of light — symbolically and literally. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil, justice over tyranny, knowledge over ignorance. It comes on the darkest night of the month on Hinduism’s lunar calendar, when the moon hides in the sky. “Everywhere we celebrate, we light a lamp,” my colleague Somini Sengupta wrote about the holiday.
Celebrations vary. People tell stories of different gods or gurus winning against evil forces. For Hindus, Diwali celebrates the new year and lasts around five days; it usually falls in late October or early November. For Sikhs, the celebration is shorter, often only one day long.
In preparation for the holiday, people try to triumph over their own small evils — like mismanaged finances or slovenliness. They check their financial accounts and reflect on whether they are earning money ethically. They deep-clean their homes, letting light into dark closets and dusty corners. In India, some people even repaint the front of their houses. “I scrub everything,” said Manpreet Kaur, 21, an accounting student who recently immigrated to London from India. “I vacuum, even on the sofa. I clean in the hard places.”
On Diwali itself, people wear their best attire — often new saris made from sumptuous fabrics and beads — and gather with family and friends. They buy sweets, called mithai, and give them to everyone: family members, neighbors, clients and friends.
“Sometimes the same box gets passed around 15 times,” said Jagroop Singh Moore, a store manager I met in London’s Southall neighborhood, where many Indian immigrants live. As we spoke last Wednesday, people around us hurried into shops to buy painted candleholders, sticky dough balls called gulab jamun and new outfits. Outside, a teenage boy set off Roman candles, which are like souped-up sparklers. They exploded over a double-decker bus that had been converted into a food truck, starting the celebration early.
People stnad in front of a shrine with food in front of it.
During Diwali celebrations at the Neasden Temple in London last year. Tolga Akmen/EPA, via Shutterstock
Expressing solidarity
This Diwali comes at a fraught time.
In the U.S. this year, Hindu temples have been defaced . President Trump has severed a key pathway for Indian workers by announcing a $100,000 fee for H1-B visas. A Republican running to be a Texas senator criticized a Hindu statue near Houston, saying, “We are a Christian nation.”
In Europe, far-right politicians critical of religious pluralism have gained power in recent years, and growing crowds of their supporters are joining public protests.
“As you know, the far right has been pretty vocal,” Patel said when I asked him what issues most concerned the Hindu community in London. He said that many Indian immigrants had fled countries led by racist strongmen like Idi Amin, a former president of Uganda. “In the back of their mind,” he said, “they’re wondering — could something like that happen here?”
In this political climate, some people of Indian descent are re-examining their relationship to the holiday. I spoke to several people who said that the growing prominence of Diwali — and the backlash against immigrants — had made them want to reconnect with their heritage. (I wrote recently about how a sense of victimization can actually make people more religious.)
Kavi Pujara, a photographer in Leicester, England, stopped practicing Hinduism when he left his parents’ home. “I didn’t pray, I didn’t go to temples anymore,” he told me. But that changed after he had kids of his own.
Pujara doesn’t deep-clean his home like his parents do. But he will bring his two kids, in their Diwali best, to his parents’ place in Leicester. Together, they will light a candle.
How to celebrate
Tomorrow, Harj and I may try to make some Indian food. See a collection of Diwali recipes from my colleagues at New York Times Cooking. Ordering samosas and chaat, a street food popular at the festival, is another good option.
NYTimes Newslwtter
By Lauren Jackson
Good morning, and happy Sunday.
My boyfriend, Harj, was raised Sikh in Tasmania, the wild island floating between Australia and Antarctica. He and his family of seven were the only Sikhs for hundreds of miles. He wore a turban — patka — until age 12, when he took it off and cut his long hair for the first time. In the years since, he has drifted from the rituals of his childhood and now identifies as agnostic.
But Diwali, the South Asian festival of lights that is celebrated by more than a billion Hindus, Jains and Sikhs worldwide, keeps appearing in his life. It starts tomorrow, and there are celebrations in both of our workplaces. Secular friends are wishing Harj a happy holiday. It’s made him pause and wonder: What is my relationship to this holiday? How should I celebrate it?
He isn’t alone. Many people are asking those same questions as the holiday becomes more popular in Western countries.
A crowd of people celebrating Diwali. A woman at the front of the crowd raises her hands.
A Diwali celebration in Trafalgar Square in London last week. Jaimi Joy/Reuters
Diwali’s popularity
Yogesh Patel, 69, has always celebrated Diwali — as a boy in Kenya, as a teenager in Zambia and as an adult in Britain. But until recently, he had not celebrated with so many white people.
Over the past several years, large numbers of visitors have traveled to see the marbled Hindu temple that rises above the marshes of northwest London, where Patel has been a volunteer for about four decades. They arrive by the busload from schools and foreign countries like Germany and Spain, he said. This Diwali, he expects even more curious — and hungry — visitors to join the crowds of about 30,000 Hindus praying and feasting at the temple tomorrow.
“Non-Hindus visit us during Diwali to see the spectacle,” he said. They’re drawn to the fireworks that explode over the temple’s white spires, to the stalls full of samosas and to the saffron marigold garlands that dangle in front of jewel-encrusted shrines.
Diwali is growing in popularity in Western countries, where millions of people have immigrated from India in recent decades. (By the way, the w is pronounced with more of a v sound — duh-VAH-lee.) It has become an official holiday in three states : California, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. New York City public schools are closed for Diwali, as are many school districts in New Jersey. The Opera House in Sydney just lit up for the holiday. Celebrities are throwing Diwali balls. In Britain, King Charles, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and fashion labels are all celebrating.
“It’s a rare time that non-Hindus engage with the Hindu faith,” said Tilak Parekh, a researcher at University of Cambridge. India has the largest diaspora in the world . The growing presence of Indians abroad, Parekh said, along with a push for inclusivity over the past decade, has raised the holiday’s profile.
A time for renewal
Diwali is a celebration of light — symbolically and literally. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil, justice over tyranny, knowledge over ignorance. It comes on the darkest night of the month on Hinduism’s lunar calendar, when the moon hides in the sky. “Everywhere we celebrate, we light a lamp,” my colleague Somini Sengupta wrote about the holiday.
Celebrations vary. People tell stories of different gods or gurus winning against evil forces. For Hindus, Diwali celebrates the new year and lasts around five days; it usually falls in late October or early November. For Sikhs, the celebration is shorter, often only one day long.
In preparation for the holiday, people try to triumph over their own small evils — like mismanaged finances or slovenliness. They check their financial accounts and reflect on whether they are earning money ethically. They deep-clean their homes, letting light into dark closets and dusty corners. In India, some people even repaint the front of their houses. “I scrub everything,” said Manpreet Kaur, 21, an accounting student who recently immigrated to London from India. “I vacuum, even on the sofa. I clean in the hard places.”
On Diwali itself, people wear their best attire — often new saris made from sumptuous fabrics and beads — and gather with family and friends. They buy sweets, called mithai, and give them to everyone: family members, neighbors, clients and friends.
“Sometimes the same box gets passed around 15 times,” said Jagroop Singh Moore, a store manager I met in London’s Southall neighborhood, where many Indian immigrants live. As we spoke last Wednesday, people around us hurried into shops to buy painted candleholders, sticky dough balls called gulab jamun and new outfits. Outside, a teenage boy set off Roman candles, which are like souped-up sparklers. They exploded over a double-decker bus that had been converted into a food truck, starting the celebration early.
People stnad in front of a shrine with food in front of it.
During Diwali celebrations at the Neasden Temple in London last year. Tolga Akmen/EPA, via Shutterstock
Expressing solidarity
This Diwali comes at a fraught time.
In the U.S. this year, Hindu temples have been defaced . President Trump has severed a key pathway for Indian workers by announcing a $100,000 fee for H1-B visas. A Republican running to be a Texas senator criticized a Hindu statue near Houston, saying, “We are a Christian nation.”
In Europe, far-right politicians critical of religious pluralism have gained power in recent years, and growing crowds of their supporters are joining public protests.
“As you know, the far right has been pretty vocal,” Patel said when I asked him what issues most concerned the Hindu community in London. He said that many Indian immigrants had fled countries led by racist strongmen like Idi Amin, a former president of Uganda. “In the back of their mind,” he said, “they’re wondering — could something like that happen here?”
In this political climate, some people of Indian descent are re-examining their relationship to the holiday. I spoke to several people who said that the growing prominence of Diwali — and the backlash against immigrants — had made them want to reconnect with their heritage. (I wrote recently about how a sense of victimization can actually make people more religious.)
Kavi Pujara, a photographer in Leicester, England, stopped practicing Hinduism when he left his parents’ home. “I didn’t pray, I didn’t go to temples anymore,” he told me. But that changed after he had kids of his own.
Pujara doesn’t deep-clean his home like his parents do. But he will bring his two kids, in their Diwali best, to his parents’ place in Leicester. Together, they will light a candle.
How to celebrate
Tomorrow, Harj and I may try to make some Indian food. See a collection of Diwali recipes from my colleagues at New York Times Cooking. Ordering samosas and chaat, a street food popular at the festival, is another good option.
NYTimes Newslwtter