I wanted it mainly because it's attractive to look at; but also because the moon's phases are important in India. Hindus consult the Panchang, an almanac which tells you the dates of the lunar months, auspicious and inauspicious times and festival days. (This link provides more information than the one above, but it sometimes worked and sometimes didn't when I tried it. It allows you to select one day at a time, and provides more information, such as the birth star or nakshatra for the day, and the day's auspicious and inauspicious times.)
On ekadasi, the 11th day after the new and full moons (in July 2003, ekadasi falls on July 10th and 25th), many Hindus eat a restricted diet. Ba, my late mother-in-law, ate mainly fruits and milk sweets on ekadasi day, but there are various rules about what can and cannot be eaten.
One interesting thing is that, because the lunar calendar is so variable, occasionally days have to be inserted or deleted in order to make the months come out right. If you look at the first link, which shows the panchang for the whole month of July, you can see the western-style dates in blue. Beside them are the dates according to moon phase. July 12 is both the 13th and the 14th in the panchang system, while July 23 and 24, western-style, are both the 10th in the panchang system. I suppose the uncertainty keeps the astrologers in business.
Gujaratis call the extra days that are inserted dhoko, 'wedge,' as when you insert a wooden wedge to make a crooked piece of furniture level. I like this -- human systems are inherently imperfect, but we keep striving to make them function.
About special foods for ekadasi, etc: I have a cookbook, Vrat Ka Khaana, by Niru Gupta, which gives special recipes for the 'fast' days like ekadasi. She writes
In India, people who want to, can have a Vrat (fast) almost seven days of the week! Besides the weekly fasts, there are innumerable occasions like the full moon, no moon, and 11th days, to name just a few! Most of these fasts are non-cereal and salt free...
Phalahaar i.e. non-cereal food, is what is eaten when fasting. Essentially, this means ... no lentils or grains. Also the salt used is restricted to Sendha/Lahore namak (rock salt)... broadly speaking, turmeric, asafoetida and dried mango powder are the 'no-no' items...
Again, most people stick to just a few root vegetables, though a few eat greens too...
...Gone are the days when the whole kitchen was washed clean, or a fresh layer of mud painted on (when this food was made only on clay ovens), before the 'fasting' food was cooked...
No comments:
Post a Comment