Traditions

In response to @Windy City Girl's post about celebrating holidays in this most unusual year of our lifetimes, I give you the holiday experience of two of your own qvwomen.

November is the month of Diwali, the Indian festival of lights. A celebration with fun and festivities with family and friends. This year, it was so conveniently over the weekend. However, the circumstances of the year kept any holiday plans confined to family members at home and party planning to zoom calls and online games J .

Surprisingly, my workplace sent out messaging about Diwali. This was a first, and they invited Rangoli* submissions from associates to mark the festival. It had been years, if not decades since I and my friend and colleague qvwoman @Aparna Shastry made rangolis, but we were excited to participate and show interest and support for the initiative.

My Saturday started with a pencil sketch…

There is so much talk here in the US about the holiday season, whether to travel or not, whether to trust Covid tests or not...how crushing it will be not see family this year and so on. Makes me wonder about two things -

1) What would happen if we didn't see our loved ones for one holiday season? We can keep in touch several ways via video conferencing. If you ask me, we are overdoing the family thing vis Zoom and other things than before!

2) How do people who have family away from them feel? Those who lives thousands of miles from loved ones? Here in the US, it is very common to know someone who has family overseas...in India, or China or Europe...do they not cope with this year after year? How do they do it? What can we learn from them?

They form bonds locally, with…

I found this website purely by chance and this looked like a good place to share it....

It lists wacky and fund holidays for almost every day of the week...some are fun (Apr 20, Look Alike Day), some inspirational (Jan 13 Make Your Dreams Come True Day) and some plain hilarious (Sept 5 Be Late for Something Day)...

Have a read, get a laugh....Fun Holidays

I saw an article of how people in a community in Michigan that is Muslim dominated is running a contest of the best Ramadan decorations / lights and the entire community can vote on that and decide! I thought this was a great way to do something new to celebrate an old tradition / religious observation.

I remember calls for putting up Christmas lights to spread cheer when the pandemic first set in and lockdown started. No one in my neighborhood complied. I am not talking about clapping and howling for health workers, those are celebrating the heroes in the frontline, I am talking about existing traditions and how the pandemic has affected those.

And I wonder if any of those would continue once things turn normal! I mean, isn't that what traditions is about? Something that changes but stands the test of time? I would love for the new…