Fake Festivals, Shadow Spirits?

We’re in the middle of a long chain of festivals that are keeping most of us almost captive physically, socially, and mentally. Preoccupied we are with the rituals we may not agree with but cannot do without in our current social scheme. It seems there is little happening except routinized practices almost everywhere and with nearly everyone.

Rituals involving physical and social engagements are to some extent understandable, though the logic behind their unfailing regularity is not necessarily convincing. What baffles me at times is the conditioning of minds into a predictable pattern, our thoughts revolving around the hullaballoos of preparation for and engagement in the rituals at a very superficial level. Nothing more, and nothing less! Not even a cursory curiosity about the basic purpose of what we ritually act out, let alone taking a creative approach to them. It is a blind walk down the lane called faith, with the mind closed too!

I believe festivals didn’t originate with or for rituals. Nor were the routinized practices intended to be their defining characteristic. They however came to be part of the festivals along the way for reasons I have difficulty comprehending, let alone conceptualizing. Coming to the present time this process has grown into an absurd irony, the rituals replacing the festivals and becoming the festivals themselves. I may make some crude guesses about the underlying reasons but that is not the point I am trying to make here.

What perturbs me – even pains me - is the fast erosion of the true festive spirits, those that underlie the celebration of any festival, its causes and consequences. As I see it, spirits of a higher order, not rituals of mundane nature, define a festival, explain its institution, and provide justification for its sustenance. While each festival may have own specific cause célèbre, it is not that difficult to discern some common celebrative spirits associated with all festivals. Without claiming comprehensiveness, I may suggest a couple of them that are to me the most important ones.

Festive spirits are those that are expressed in the form of devotion, jubilation, reflection, and connection. Similarly they consist in the practices of sharing and serving. The best way of celebrating a festival is to devote oneself deeply to the higher purpose the festival is rooted in, and to the larger duty it demands. As far as I am aware, all festivals are founded in one or more deep purposes, and require us to fulfil certain duties in their pursuance. True devotion is about being aware of and believing in those higher purposes while fully committing to and pursuing the required duties single-mindedly without any distraction even in the face of disturbances.

Each festival is an occasion of and provides a space for both inner and outer jubilation, a state of emotional elation, blissfulness, and delight - both individually and collectively. This comes from the knowledge that festivals are special moments symbolizing the ultimate triumph of positive dimensions of existence such as sacrifice, kindness, redemption, truth, prayer, honesty, fairness, and benefaction. Festive joyfulness is in fact the acknowledgement of the prevalence of these higher aspects of life by recognizing their value, identifying with and expressing them, rejoicing collectively in being able to do so, and being deeply content inside.

Festivity is not only an externality, manifested in the form of social practices. It is also an internality, a phenomenon that takes place deep inside individuals. A major part of the internal happening is the process of self-reflection, looking into ourselves and knowing where we stand in relation to the higher ideals and moral standards embodied in the nature of the festival. Such introspection followed by corrective behaviors in line with the true messages of a festival is the best expression of festive spirit.  

The most apparent festive spirit of course is being socially connected, actively engaging with dears and nears. What it demands, though, is not only being together in physical space but intensively relating in emotional space, reaching out to the possible ones and responding to them with a sense of respect, affection, appreciation, and acceptance. Connecting of minds and hearts – with thoughts and emotions – is a true festive spirit.

Underlying the spirit of connection is the deeper motivation of sharing with those connected. It’s not only sharing of such finite physical resources as time and space but more importantly of infinite emotional and cognitive capitals like joy, belief, well-wishing, gratitude, prayer, thoughts, love, and respect. Sharing is what makes festivals a social capital.

Finally, the spirit of serving makes a festival worth celebrating, and a pious not a pompous event. Each festival has a subtle and sublime message that directs us to serve the unserved, to meet the needs of the neediest, to help those in trouble, and to give back to the community.   

One would expect that we enact and live these festive spirits as we celebrate a festival, devoid of which it turns into a bland event, a ritual, and a social routine. And that’s exactly what we’ve made of our festivals. Rituals have replaced festive spirits. Celebration of causes has given way to repetition of routines.

If any spirits are enacted at all, they represent the wrong end of values. Showiness, shallowness, and selfishness have become the guiding motives as we observe festivals. And personal convenience, sensory pleasures, mental hollowness, and social apathy have gained prominence and primacy. As a result what we see as hallmarks of festivals are such practices as vulgar display of material possessions, social extravaganzas, behavioral exhibitionism, undignified pastimes, superficial interpersonal transactions, ego indulgence, shallow attachment, self-serving actions, comical gestures, and thought shyness.

As they are evolving, our festivals have been denuded of true spirits and genuine behaviors. Only their shadows are left of them, a case of shadow spirits. Too much of this is adding to our festivals an aura of fakeness and falseness. One should not be surprised if this trend will one day leave us with only fake festivals. That day will be a tragedy for our society as we will then be devoid of celebrative spirits, the absence of which signals less of life and loss of life for both individuals and the society. The trend that is emerging is already ominous; if it is not reversed it will soon become alarming.

Reversal is the responsibility of those who have rendered festivals to the present hapless state – WE. Hence it is our duty to work for the revival of the true festive spirits, for they are the very essence of life. Celebration of festivals is celebration of life itself.

Revival requires we start celebrating festivals by engaging with true festive spirits: devotion, jubilation, reflection, connection, sharing, and serving. This is the right time to start doing it. A small step this season will make it possible for us to go a long way over time. By doing so we will save our festivals from growing fake, and we will step out of the shadow of spirits into their brightness. Will we?