Turkey

Last week (Nov 25, 2010) was Thanksgiving and no Thanksgiving feast is complete without feasting on a turkey. So what is the significance of a turkey and where did it come from?

Turkeys are native to America and were raised way back during the Aztecs and  the Mayan civilisation. The turkey has always been associated with Harvest and one of the native myths suggests that it was a turkey that gave corn seeds to a brother and sister and taught them the art of growing and harvesting. Turkeys besides being associated with harvests, are also supposed to have helped in the creation of the world, as per the native mythology.

Amongst the Mesoamericans (i.e. Mexico and Central America), a turkey has a very high status. It was believed that a turkey was the personification of the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca, who was a warrior and a magician who could see the future in his mirror. Tezcatlipoca was a deity with negative shades, but when he changed himself to Chalchiuhtotolin, which meant, a jewelled turkey, he became the god of good fortune. If Tezcatlipoca could lead humans to self-destruction, as Chalchiuhtotolin, he could rid them of all the ills that led them to destruction.

The turkey in mythology also represents the Sun god. According to Hopi creation myths, it was a male turkey that tried to raise the sun in the sky, and in the process burnt its head, which till today is bald!

A turkey is one animal whose every body part can be used. Besides its meat and eggs, its colourful feathers are used for decorations and its bones are used in making whistles.

Why turkey for Thanksgiving? Well in America, it was a native bird, easily available besides being considered lucky for all the above reasons. However, the eating of turkey spread in other parts of the world too, when turkeys were imported by other countries after trade-routes were opened. During the early 16^th century, the King of Spain had ordered that all returning ships should bring with it, five pairs of turkeys and thus started the practice of rearing turkesy outside America. Due to their ease of rearing and availability in abundance, they soon replaced geese during the celebratory feasts across Europe. Today a roast turkey is common for Christmas meals in UK too.  

According to a survey, on Thanksgiving, 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten!

2nd Anniversary of 26/11

Another anniversary of 26/11, another day of remembrance, another day to relive the tragedy, another day to light candles and lay flowers at the sites of the tragedy, another day for the khadi-clad to spit rhetoric, but 730 days of loss for the kith and kin of the dead. 

This was the day, when ten outsiders played havoc with our country and all of us watched helplessly hoping that the casualty figures would be wrong and there would be less people dead, or maimed. This was the day, when gun-wielding people from outside the country came in and created mayhem, but made heroes and martyrs out of some ordinary people. Where have they gone – the unnamed policeman, the doctor, the nurse, the waiter, the ambulance driver, the porter, the passenger, etc? Where have their contributions gone?

On this day, besides others, the lone killer alive is resting in the jail. His well-being is enquired, his comfort is taken care of, and his needs are catered to. After all, our legal system is so unbiased. Prior to the trial, we said, no person is guilty till proven and gave the killer a fair trial. After the trial, he has been proven guilty, but we still need to give him a fair chance to avoid the gallows. I am not an advocate of the theory of ‘an eye for an eye’, but aren’t we overdoing this business of fairness and that too to a cold-blooded murderer, who has till date not regretted his actions, or displayed even a false sense of remorse? Rather has been making demands on the system.

For once, let me ask – why are we being fair or rather, let me reframe the question, why are being so fair? After all, we are not bombing a foreign nation for an internal tragedy? But when we catch a rat and a few moles, then let us deal with them in a manner that the world realises that we mean business. If we are not a rogue-state then we are not a soft-nation too. If we don’t mess up with others, we don’t let others mess up with us too. This needs to be shown in action and not in poetic speeches in international forums.

For the powers-that-be, it’s time to show that India cares for her citizens and to the outsiders that India can dare. Don’t mess, have teeth, will bite!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a major festival in US and the neighbouring countries. The celebrations are set on the fourth Thursday of November when family and friends sit together for meals, and thank for all that they have. So what are the origins of this day?

Not much is known except that on this day, the Pilgrims of Plymouth, which is in the modern-day Massachusetts, had their first dinner with the native Wampanoag Indians, way back in 1621. What was so special about the dinner?

The legend goes that the Pilgrims who were new to the place were struggling to settle and first harsh winter saw some deaths and they were left with little food with them. The people were not ready or prepared for the harsh conditions and all they brought with them, seeds, etc. were not conducive for the region. It was then that Squanto, a native Wampanoag Indian, who taught the Pilgrims the art of planting and growing grains and seeds in the land which was rugged. Squanto is even supposed to have given them seeds, besides teaching them how to sow and harvest. The first harvest was cause for celebration, and the Pilgrims hosted a feast for Squanto and his tribe as a thanks giving feast. Similarly, the next year was a bigger and better harvest, leading to another big feast, and thus started the Thanksgiving feast. However, it took many more years for it to be declared a national holiday in US.

So the origin of Thanksgiving was a Harvest festival. Over time, it has earned different connotations to the festival. Earlier people sat together on this day to thank god for the bountiful harvest that they would have reaped, and today, they sit together and thank all for all that they have.

Thanksgiving has an association with the Greek Mythology, that of the Horn of Cornucopia or the Horn of Plenty. This is a part of all Thanksgiving feasts and is a horn shaped container, filled with goodies. The traditional cornucopia was a goat’s horn filled to the brim with fruits and grains, which is part of the harvest.

According to the Greek Mythology, Zeus was brought up by Amaltheia, a goat who suckled the baby Zeus in a cave, while he was in hiding till he was ready to come out in public. Once when baby Zeus was playing with Amaltheia, he broke one of her horns by accident. Zeus felt very sorry for doing this and returned the horn but with magical powers that he had, and it is said that whosoever had the magical horn would get all that s/he wished. The cornucopia is also a symbol of fertility, a sign of abundance bounty.

Finally, no mention of Thanksgiving is complete without a mention of the Turkey. On this day, having a turkey for the feast is a must. Why a turkey, well we will keep it for another day!

Dionysus – the Greek God of Wine

Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, who was a mortal. In Greek mythology, gods and mortals mixed around freely. The birth of Dionysus is a story in itself. Zeus the King of Heavens was known for his numerous affairs, which he always tried to keep from his jealous and ever-doubting wife Hera. Zeus was in love with Semele and once promised her that he would give in to any of his requests and this he swore on the river Styx. The oath was a very important and unbreakable one. At this, Semele requested that Zeus show up to her in original form of the King of Heavens and the Master of the Thunderbolt, an idea which had been fed to her by the scheming Hera. Zeus knew that it was not possible for a mortal to behold him thus, but then he could not break the oath, so he did what was the inevitable. Semele was burnt alive when Zeus came to her in his original form, but before she could die, Zeus snatched from her the child which was close to be born. He then hid the child from Hera and gave it to his messenger, who gave the child to the nymphs to nurse him, before he could be born.

Thus Dionysus was reared like the grapes, which ripen in the burning heat, and then nursed by the rains. Dionysus was the god of wine in Greek mythology. It is said that the god of wine, could be both kind and cruel. The worship of Dionysus was centred around two contradicting philosophies, that of freedom and joy on one hand and violence on the other. In Greek mythology, there are stories of Dionysus, which revolve around him being a god who provides joy and sometimes, a god who is brutal, leading to unimaginable destruction.

This contradiction is the crux of the god of wine. Wine is both good and bad. If consumed in limits, it makes one feel light and warm, but if consumed in excess, makes one drunk and at times rowdy and violent. The Greeks understood such contradictions well and thus knew that the nice heart-warming side of the wine always came with the excessive violent ways of the same. Under the influence of wine, man felt courageous, joyous and light hearted. People felt that they had the power of doing things that they could not before consuming the wine.

Dionysus, was the only god, who was not just outside the human beings, but inside too, and that was unique about the worship of Dionysus. The momentary sense of elation provided was enough to give man wings of imagination, to do something he has not been able to do, write, compose, draw, paint, imagine or create. But all this ran out of the man, the moment he over did the sense of joy, and got drunk; leading to the destruction that Dionysus is also known for.

Thus Greek mythology feels that Dionysus is two faced, and it doesn’t take him from changing his faces – we all know what that means, don’t we?

Rooster in Various Mythologies

Some time back, I had written about Vahanas (see Post dated July 28, 2010). Amongst many of the Vahanas, the Rooster has quite a prominent place in not just Indian Mythology, but other mythologies too. Let us go through some of them, before understanding what it symbolises –

Indian

In Southern India in the Tamil folklore, a large, red, fighting rooster (kukkuta in Sanskrit) adorns Lord Murugan's flag, heralding the dawn of wisdom and the conquest of the forces of ignorance. It is said in Mahabharata, that the rooster also adorned Srikhandi’s flag during the war of Kurukshetra. The carrier of Goddess Bahucharaji is also a rooster.

Greek mythology

According to a Greek legend, Alectryon - the ancient Greek word for "rooster" - was a youth who was ordered by the Ares, the god of war, to stand guard outside his door while the he carried on an adulterous dalliance with goddess Aphrodite. Unfortunately, Alectryon fell asleep at his post, and Helios, the sun god, walked in on the amorous couple. Spitefully, Ares turned Alectryon into a rooster, which never forgets to announce the sun's arrival in the morning.

Bible

The Bible provides a well-known reference in the passage where Jesus prophesied of his betrayal by Peter: "And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me." (Luke 22:34) This made the rooster a symbol for both vigilance and betrayal.

Jewish legends

The Talmud speaks of learning "courtesy toward one's mate" from the rooster. This might refer to the fact that, when a rooster finds something good to eat, he calls his hens to eat first.

European Tale

In old central European folk tales the devil is believed to flee at the first crowing of a cock. A medieval myth posits that the Basilisk, a giant snake who kills with a single glance and is hatched by a toad from a hen's egg, will instantly die if it hears a rooster crowing.

Asian folklore

Historical documents from Koryo Kingdom (A.D. 918 - 1392) in Korea indicate that roosters were reared in the royal court for keeping time, as no clocks existed in that era. Travellers would take roosters with them on long trips to be woken on a timely basis.

China

In China the bird has traditionally been considered a good sign, as its crow meant the break of dawn and the beginning of a fresh start. It is also believed that ghosts and evil spirits afraid of the light vanish when a rooster crows. The five virtues attributed to the rooster in Chinese mythology are: knowledge, military expertise, courage, benevolence and credibility.

Rooster Symbolism –

A rooster represents male energy and possibly aggression. If one has ever observed a rooster in a hen-house, one would notice that the roosters are very aggressive, demanding and territorial. A rooster is seen as a virile bird and extremely productive. In the olden days, it was masculine to be in a position to be progeny-productive, irrespective of age and a rooster has a unique space amongst the birds/animals to be in that category.

Though the crowing of a rooster is considered to be a wake-up call as seen by the predominantly agrarian society, the symbolism associated with the crowing of a rooster is always that of a warning call. A call to say that light has spread and it is time for the darkness to recede. Darkness which is associated with evil has come to an end. It is time to begin the day in a new way and afresh. A roosters crowing heralds this new beginning each day bringing a new dawn in every listeners life.