Are we losing something?

There’s a festive spirit in the air these days. The streets are aglow with strings of lights, the stores are filled with last minute shoppers, and people are busy preparing to host family and friends. Sound familiar? Here in Nepal, we are nearing the end of the Dasain Festival, which begins on the day of the new moon in September and ends on the day of the full moon in early October. In the weeks leading up to this festival, I have been struck by the similarities that this “auspicious” holiday shares with Christmas. Dasian is the Hindu celebration of the ultimate and inevitable triumph of Good over the forces of Evil, when the Goddess Durga killed the wicked demon Mahisasura who had been tormenting human beings for generations. For Christians, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, the pivotal moment in history when the world began to turn from darkness to light. We believe this event set into motion God’s ultimate redemption of humanity, the imminent victory of Good over Evil with the death and resurrection of Christ. There are other similarities- decorations, the giving of gifts, extended vacation from school and work. And of course, there are many differences (i.e. we don’t slaughter thousands of goats for Christmas and Nepali’s don’t believe that an overweight old man slides down their chimneys to deliver gifts for Dasain). However, there is one similarity that has been particularly striking. I get the sense from Nepali’s that I’ve talked to and a few newspaper articles that I’ve read that the Dasain Festival is changing, and not necessarily for the better. It seems this festival is no longer focused on the celebration of a monumental moment in history. It’s no longer about spending quality time with family and friends. Rather, it has become commercialized. Dasain is now a commodity that is bought and sold to the highest bidder. It’s about consuming. Billboards, displaying flashy motorcycles, entice shoppers with a “Special Dasain Giveaway”. Stores lure passersby with “Desain Discounts”. In this impoverished nation, many people simply cannot afford to celebrate Dasain in this new way so they take out large loans that they will be paying off long after the end of this Holiday. Sound familiar? As I’ve read about the fate of many American and European banks over the past few weeks and the subsequent crashes on Wall Street and many other streets throughout the world, I’ve been reflecting on this monster that we in the West have created. We have built systems that require people to buy, not just things that they need but more importantly things that they want (by blurring the lines between “needs” and “wants”). Sacred celebrations like Christmas and Dasain are necessary victims of this monster. In order for our economies to grow, we need people to have more reasons to buy and consume. In the name of “progress”, we sacrifice those things that were once very important to us. Perhaps we are gaining the world, but what are we losing?

Small featured men dancing during Dasain.

Village children enjoying a swing, set up specifically for this festival.

Hundreds of thousands of goats like these are slaughtered during Dasain.