October Supermoon, Seasonal Shifts, Feminine Divine Energy and Farming: The Scene Around Savista
Savista Retreat is a countryside boutique hotel wedded to the philosophy of sustainability and responsible living. Its location in a rural community on the outskirts of the city of Jaipur, helps impart a more complex perspective on Indian festivals, than what a Jaipur city resident or visitor gets to witness around festival times. More and more, Indian festivals tend to be celebrated as purely social/religious events, strong on market hype and aggressive consumerism, and somewhat distanced from their original base in the way people in this country traditionally engaged with nature. Savista’s byline ‘Jaipur, differently’, its location, and its environmental philosophy can help guests become aware that while Indian festivals have fun, food, community engagement and prayer at their core, they are grounded in Life itself as understood in the most fundamental sense of the term.
The recently concluded nine-nights-and-ten-days festival of Navaratri (also called Dussehra and Durga Puja) is a case in point. Navaratri is one of India’s most important annual festivals, and was celebrated across the country in different ways and with much fanfare (and a lot of noise). It is a good guess as to how many of those who celebrated knew that the festival marked a major seasonal shift and corresponding crop cycle.
In traditional Indian culture, every seasonal change was imbued with spiritual and religious significance and symbolisms. Perhaps, these symbolisms were societal mechanisms to energisepeople, and prepare them for the implications of the seasonal shift on their health as well as economic activity.
The festival of Navaratri, was a focused celebration of the Earth-Mother or Feminine Divine Energy (Shakti) as the principle that animates all Creation. The Mother Goddess is believed to embody the abundance that is the reward of sincere effort and focused intention. The festival invoked the Goddess’ blessings for prosperity and abundance in the season to come. Worshippers were expected to imbibe the powerful symbolism of this festival – where the Goddess herself observes rigorous discipline over the nine-day period, in order to gain the single-minded focus and mental strength required for Victory in her battle on behalf of ‘Good” over ‘Evil’ in the interests of universal welfare. This day of Victory, the tenth day – Vijayadashami- was traditionally celebrated as an occasion for everybody re-dedicate themselves to their social and economic duties, whether as farmers, crafts persons, traders, students, or other any other occupations.
The October Supermoon, also called Hunter’s Moon, and known as Sharad Poornima in India, that we witnessed a couple of days ago, is considered one of the most beautiful full moons of the year. It formally confirmed, on the agricultural calendar, that the cool season in the northern Indian plains had set in.
But Sharad Poornima has traditionally had much more significance for the agrarian community than just a beautiful moon, cool weather and gorgeous flowers everywhere. The deeply environmental significance of autumn and the October Supermoon for the farmers living in Savista’s environs, is that it is the beginning of the second most-important agricultural season of the year, called Rabi in Hindi. This is the season when the staple crop of wheat is sown.
Through the week prior to the full moon day, farming families around Savista were busy tilling their fields in preparation for sowing their fresh crop. Simultaneously, the nights resonated to the hum of threshers, as the farmers dealt with the harvested monsoon-fed hardy crop of millets. The sheaves, tied into stacks, had been standing in the fields, awaiting the conclusion of the Navaratri festival. Growing millets is relatively easy; during the monsoon months rain water suffices to irrigate the crop, and even otherwise the crop simply takes care of itself. On the other hand, wheat will require regular watering and weeding and, generally, much greater care at every stage. For the farmer, the blessings of the Divine Earth Mother would be essential for a successful agricultural season. Through the night of Sharad Poornima, all around Savista, you could hear gentle music and chants, as farmers and their families offered prayers of hope to Mother Nature for an abundant harvest at the end of a smooth Rabi season.
Being at Savista Retreat, with its commitment to sustainability and community integration, makes one acutely aware of the agriculturist’s insecurity in the face of unforeseen natural setbacks. Agriculture is predicated on never losing hope; for anything can go wrong at any point in the agricultural cycle – a sudden hailstorm, an unseasonal heavy shower, an unforeseen locust attack or any other large scale pest infestation, could destroy standing crops…All would be lost and the farmer would have to start all over again.
The food on our tables is the result of this hope, effort and prayers on the part of farmers – everywhere – rendered even more acute in these times of uncertain environmental change
Even as one admired the beauty of the October Supermoon, its silver reflection off the sand dunes producing a calming and enchanting effect on the observer, one felt grateful for the opportunity to be at Savista and to be able to observe and appreciate the re-charging of batteries by both nature and humans…
