Bhoot chaturdashi is celebrated as roop chaturdashi or naraka chaturdashi all over India. We Bengalis love our ghosts 😊 and the many ghost stories that we have. It is believed that fourteen generations ( seriously 🙄) of our ancestors, all come to visit the Earth on this fourteenth night of Krishnapaksha that fell before Kali Puja ( I wonder how people who make each others' lives hell when alive, come together and share such camaraderie as ghosts!).
As a kid my memories of the day are clear , seeing maa, grandmaa, aunts all making 'choddo shaak', fourteen types of leafy vegetables cooked together. As children, we would count and help the women of the house to collect all fourteen types of leaves that we always looked forward to eat as that would make us strong and help us fight the demons and ghosts( my sons though are a fan of Popeye).
Ha ha...you find that funny right! Even I do now 😁...but then we kids, really felt strong after finishing off the 'choddo shaak'( am not too sure whether I really relished it or not) and at times tested each other's muscle powers too 😏
At night after the routine puja/ worship and diya-batti( lighting of the lamp), all the kids of the house would light fourteen earthen lamps along with the women of the house. The diyas/earthen lamps were esspecially placed in dark places, to light up all the dark corners and areas, as it was believed that the lights helped our ancestors to find our homes easily. All of us kids would stay awake till late, huddled together, waiting to see our ancestors, until one by one we all slept 😜 Funnily enough nobody witnessed any of our ancestors visiting us.
The next day was always super fun with double celebrations, one of Diwali and the other being Kali Pujo at night. Bong children always seem to have the best 😁 After my marriage into a Punjabi family, I have skilfully combined the traditions of both the families( as mentioned before, I learned to create a balance between the two worlds- one of the Punjus and the other of Bongs). This time around we are not celebrating Diwali in a big way though, having lost family members this year .
Today I skipped the 'choddo shaak' bit too( I do that at times when i don't seem to get hold of fourteen different greens). But in the evening we did light the fourteen earthen lamps, for lighting up the dark corners is always welcome, and such a beautiful feeling.
May the lights of Diwali fill you all up with the radiance of love, knowledge and wisdom . Light the lamps of humanity, brimming with love ❤❤ May these lights do away with all darkness in our lives, if any at all! Have a blessed, peaceful and happy Diwali !
©®Madhumita
PS: My posts on Karwa Chauth and Ahoi Ashtami are pending as reminded by some friends here( thanks that you love my posts). Shall post soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment