Festival mornings are always fraught with anxiety for Mero Budda and I. I get frustrated because i never know what i should be doing or if i have some role i should be performing. Mero Budda gets confused because he doesn't have a clue what he needs to explain. He assumes all families give tikka, slaughter goats, touch each others feet and perform pujas every other day of the week.
My family don't have a lot of rituals. The ones we do have are pretty relaxed, gifts on Christmas morning, chocolate at Easter. There aren't any real rules about it and i would never put Mero Budda on the spot and expect him to perform Santa duties or prepare a Christmas roast.
Unfortunately my Nepali family don't seem to believe that people have different rituals in other countries. There is never any warning that a festival is coming. Usually we wake up and my MIL will say "oh today is [insert festival name] you need to dress Nepali". This usually leads to a panic because there are many levels of Nepali dressing and some require specific coloured clothes, which i never own. And is it a full on Sari event, will a kuta do or just jeans and a culturally appropriate top? The response is usually something like "oh just wear the usual thing you would wear to [insert festival name]." This of course is no help what so ever!
I remember having the conversation with my father in law once where he realized that not everyone in the world likes Daal Bhat. He knew that people all over the world didn't eat daal bhat, but he always figured that if given the opportunity and choice, everyone in the world WOULD eat daal bhat (once they were enlightened to it's existence and taste, of course), and when he realized that some westerners have been give that choice, and would rather eat pizza, it really rocked his world. ;)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with all the festivals!
Yeah I stopped eating rice for a few weeks. After months of eating is twice a day, every day, i needed a break. You'd think i had chosen to stop breathing. Everyone in the neighbourhood was dropping around to see if i'd started eating rice yet. People in the street who knew my MIL would shout at me "You MUST eat rice". The level of concern and disbelief was at manic levels.
ReplyDeleteI prefer to wear Kurta especially during festivals. I find it easy compare to Sari. I was living with my in laws for around 2 weeks straight after the wedding. As I was new daughter in law I was expected to wear Sari even at home. It was not easy or comfortable to wear sari everyday but I knew I had to do it for only 2 weeks. I do love wearing Sari here in Australia but not everyday. Just in special occasions.
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