prithvi.k
on off on off......
New converts reinvent Christmas tradition like jagran,langar,kirtan etc in Punjab !
Amritsar: I worked on Diwali but need two days off for Chrishmash,” announces Rani Devi, a maid in Amritsar. She’s been busy collecting donations from each of her employers for her family’s “Chrishmash tree”. She is one of many new Christians in Sultanwind, a slum that’s home to lowercaste maids, barbers, porters and vegetable vendors. Till two years ago, religious festivals meant no more to Rani Devi or any resident of Sultanwind than an excuse for a holiday and lots of baksheesh.
But now, the free missionary school in the locality has taught Rani Devi and many others to adopt Jesus as their god. Almost every Sultanwind family now has at least a few Christian members. Many Meeras or Poojas in Sultanwind have donned the new avatars of Marys or Julies. They have the fierce belief of the new convert. They go to the newly whitewashed church every Sunday. They celebrate Christmas, Good Friday and Easter with gusto. Rani Devi admits Diwali and Holi don’t mean much to them now. “Every Christmas, we organize a jagran for Yeshu in our locality and dance all through the night,” she says.
Delhi academic Dr Ranveer Singh, who does charity work at a school run by Christian missionaries, says new converts routinely reinvent ritual. “New Christians throughout the country have reinvented Christmas celebrations in their own way, with a touch of Hindu rituals,” he says.
But not all “new Christians” celebrate like the faithful of Sultanwind. It’s usually thought that the majority of Indian Christians are Dalits and that they converted for material gain and the chance to belong to a community that does not look down upon them as low-born. But, officially, these new Christians continue to call themselves “SC Hindus” in order to benefit from the government’s SC/ST schemes and job quotas.
One such is Thankamani of Thiruvananthapuram. She’s in her late 40s and converted after the local pastor cured her niece of illness a few years ago. But she remains Hindu in all government records despite her stated admiration for the priest’s “healing touch”. Thankamani says she wishes she could come out. “I am a complete Christian now but I hardly go to church or celebrate Christmas openly, because if I am caught doing it, I shall lose my job,” she says.
Amritsar: I worked on Diwali but need two days off for Chrishmash,” announces Rani Devi, a maid in Amritsar. She’s been busy collecting donations from each of her employers for her family’s “Chrishmash tree”. She is one of many new Christians in Sultanwind, a slum that’s home to lowercaste maids, barbers, porters and vegetable vendors. Till two years ago, religious festivals meant no more to Rani Devi or any resident of Sultanwind than an excuse for a holiday and lots of baksheesh.
But now, the free missionary school in the locality has taught Rani Devi and many others to adopt Jesus as their god. Almost every Sultanwind family now has at least a few Christian members. Many Meeras or Poojas in Sultanwind have donned the new avatars of Marys or Julies. They have the fierce belief of the new convert. They go to the newly whitewashed church every Sunday. They celebrate Christmas, Good Friday and Easter with gusto. Rani Devi admits Diwali and Holi don’t mean much to them now. “Every Christmas, we organize a jagran for Yeshu in our locality and dance all through the night,” she says.
Delhi academic Dr Ranveer Singh, who does charity work at a school run by Christian missionaries, says new converts routinely reinvent ritual. “New Christians throughout the country have reinvented Christmas celebrations in their own way, with a touch of Hindu rituals,” he says.
But not all “new Christians” celebrate like the faithful of Sultanwind. It’s usually thought that the majority of Indian Christians are Dalits and that they converted for material gain and the chance to belong to a community that does not look down upon them as low-born. But, officially, these new Christians continue to call themselves “SC Hindus” in order to benefit from the government’s SC/ST schemes and job quotas.
One such is Thankamani of Thiruvananthapuram. She’s in her late 40s and converted after the local pastor cured her niece of illness a few years ago. But she remains Hindu in all government records despite her stated admiration for the priest’s “healing touch”. Thankamani says she wishes she could come out. “I am a complete Christian now but I hardly go to church or celebrate Christmas openly, because if I am caught doing it, I shall lose my job,” she says.