April 10, 2015

harvest (n., v.)

This coming Saturday marks an annual tradition of mine. April 14 is Vaisakhi, a harvest festival celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists to (most simply put) celebrate the start of the new (Solar) year (Vaisakh is the month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds to April/May in the Gregorian Calendar, when Sun is in Aries.)
harvest (n.) from Proto-Germanic *harbitas (cognate: Old Saxon hervist), from PIE *kerp- "to gather, pluck, harvest" (cognates: Sanskrit krpana- "sword;" Greek karpos "fruit;" Latin carpere "to cut, divide, pluck"). 
Though I am not Sikh, Hindu, nor Buddhist, this will be my fourth year attending the Sikh Vaisakhi festivities in Vancouver. I can't wait to again join the lineups to share a meal with strangers in the car-free  lanes of Fraser Street. Nodding to sari-clad women as I pop gulab jamun in my mouth with sticky hands, I'll ask them about the holiday because undoubtedly I forget some details each year. When the parade makes its way by, I, too, will open my hands to the offerings being handed out by the procession, taking care not to let the rice, raisins, and coriander spill between my fingers - what I gather (no pun intended) is a sign of being wasteful, as I remember seeing even the oldest of men get down on their knees to pick up every dropped kernel.
With mama Iris in 2014.
Vaisakhi may not be printed in your typical freebie London Drugs calendar, but I always make sure to have it marked down. (As a Canadian immigrant who's long appropriated holidays that are not of my own heritage (ahem, Boxing Day?), this shouldn't come as much of a surprise).

Vaisakhi festival, 2014.

That's the wonderful thing about living in a multicultural place: We get exposed to a multitude of very diverse community celebrations. Rather than divide us, these festivals often resonate with us on a human level and show us that we are more alike than we are different: All people like a reason to gather, eat, and relish in being alive, regardless of religion or background. We all are at the whim of time, of the coming and going of things, of death and rebirth, and of Mother Earth's karmic 'give and take.' This time of the year reminds me, and more poignantly than other seasons, of the natural cycle of things.
 
It also reminds me to do my taxes - another one of life's certainties that keeps things in balance.

So, in the spirit of plucking and harvesting, and of being reminded to be grateful for the nourishment we have from mama earth, let's also nod our heads to all those other powers-that-be that keep the world moving.

Which reminds me: Vote "yes" in the transit referendum, Vancouver!


Posted by vishmili at 12:30 AM
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shorthand (n.)