Roma Festival of the Saint Mary

Sara, the patron saint of the Romany people of France also known as gipsies), is the subject of two legends. Sara was the servant girl of Marie Jacobe, the Blessed Virgin Mary's niece, according to one storey. Marie Jacobe and Marie Solome, the mothers of the apostles James and John, joined Jesus' disciples from Bethany (Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary), Joseph of Arimathea, and Mary Magdalene out of Palestine after Jesus' crucifixion. The festival is known as La Fete des Saintes Maries in French and is celebrated between May 24^th  and 25^th  every year.

When they arrived at the sea, the party set sail, but Sara remained behind. Sara began to weep, and Marie Jacobe responded by casting her mantle upon the waves and dragging her onboard their small boat. Sara then led the boat to its destination—Camargue, Provence—with the help of an angel (France). Marie Jacobe, Marie Salome, and Sara stayed at the landing site and evangelized the locals while the other parties dispersed.

Sara was a Romany queen in the other version of the novel. She greeted the party from Palestine and was baptized by the two Maries. They were converted to Christianity after she revealed them to the other gypsy chiefs. She oversaw their burial on the spot where the Church of Notre Dame de la Mer would later be constructed after they died. This location was previously used for Pagan worship. The three women's remains are still thought to be in the cathedral. Sara is not considered an official saint since she was never canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Her tomb is located in the cellar of the cathedral.

Meanwhile, the two Maries' remains are kept in the upper chapel. On their reliquary, scenes from their lives have been drawn. Romany people from all over Europe get to flock to Provence in mid-May for the annual celebrations of Sara (May 24) and the two Maries (May 25) at Notre Dame de la Mer. The field surrounding the church transforms into a vast campground, where casual parties, song, dancing, and general merriment take place.

The pilgrimage's aim, however, is to honor the two Maries, especially Sara, who is revered as the mother of the Gypsies and is thought to be an Egyptian from whom the Gypsies get their common name. They'll make time during their stay to kneel before her shrine and light a candle. They'll dress the statue in new clothes and leave a variety of offerings—thanks for prayers answered and wishes for prayers left unanswered.

A statue of Sara is brought from its permanent resting place in the church basement to the main sanctuary on the first day of formal events, and the reliquary of the two Maries is also lowered from the upper chapel. Members of the assembled congregation try to touch the reliquary as it finds its spot. The Mass for the day begins with songs dedicated to the two Maries. Following the Mass, Sara's statue is taken to a local beach for a blessing ceremony.

The statues of the two Maries will be taken to the shore for a similar blessing ritual on the second day. Some young local girls dressed in traditional regional attire will lead the procession to the port. The archbishop of Aix en Provence will follow behind the statues. From a boat just offshore, he will perform the ritual blessing the waters that took the two Maries to Provence.

Sara and the reliquary of the two Maries will be returned to their permanent resting place at the closing ceremonies at the cathedral, as the gathered chant: Great Saintes Maries, we are about to abandon you. Intercede for us before God, so that he will protect our souls and bodies, and so that he will assist us in becoming better people. Many people would take water from the well in the church's middle. The water is said to have healing properties.

Aki Matsuri - A Traditional Japanese Shinto Festival

 

Aki Matsuri is a popular Shinto festival that has evolved into a secularized Japanese national holiday comparable to Thanksgiving Day in the US. It was historically a day centered on the local Shinto shrines, during which the shrines' portable shrine was paraded through the village, and people used the occasion to express gratitude to the heavenly powers (kami) for the plentiful harvest.

Those who held the shrine made wishes for happiness to those who lived there when they went from house to house. The day starts with the priest purifying the temple and the participants donning traditional garb.

In Japan (and the Japanese diaspora), there isn't just one autumn festival, but a slew of them, each held at a different location with a different focus and on different dates during the month. The festival's local dates are often changed from year to year to keep it on a weekend. The Aki Matsuri in Kyoto contains a commemoration of the city's founding (October 22).

The festivals in Akita, Aichi, and Nihonmatsu are among the most significant. The procession to the nearest Shinto shrine is conducted at night in these areas, and it involves hundreds of lanterns that wind down the street as music plays. Hachiman, a famous Shinto god of war and the country's supreme guardian as well as a Buddhist bodhisattva, is the subject of several autumn festivals in Japan, including those in Himeji, Hyogo prefecture, and Takayama, Gifu prefecture.

The latter starts with a ceremony at the Sakur ayama Hachimangu Shrine, accompanied by a procession of 11 portable shrines (known as mikoshi) that are carried across town to enable Hachiman to visit each neighborhood's homes. The shrines are on display throughout the evening and can be seen by the illumination of several paper lanterns. Nagasaki is also home to the Nagasaki Kunchi, a massive autumn festival that dates to the 17th century.

 

Goddess of the Hunt: Are Korravai & Diana the same?

In Perumalpatti village, bordering Virudhunagar, a sculpture of Kotravai, called the goddess of war and triumph in Tamil culture, was unveiled standing beside a stag. The sculpture, believed to date back to early Pandiyan era, was found while ploughing the garden of one Karuppaiah.

Assistant Professor of History in Rajapalayam Raju’s College, B Kandasamy, said that carved stones were also unearthed. The stones might have been carved for the construction of a temple here. At a nearby location, two rivers called Devi and Vadamalai converged.

The locals could have started worshipping the goddess and then started building a temple on the spot afterwards. The river may have crossed the banks at some point, allowing the sculpture and the stones to go down into the ground. A Kotravai sculpture is a rarity in the southern regions of Tamil Nadu, and this discovery is the second to be found in the state and the first in the south.

"The first one is kept in a Chennai museum," Kandhasamy said. Its softness and the animal - stag - standing beside the goddess is another fascinating thing about the sculpture. There are four hands in the sculpture of the goddess, of which three are absent. The statue's pedestal has also been located. The monument was kept under a nearby tree and people began to worship it.

They have begun to worship it.

There are four hands in the sculpture of the goddess, of which three are absent. The statue's pedestal has also been located. 

The statue that was found is about two feet below the surface and was held under a nearby tree where it began to be worshipped by people.

In the Tamil tradition of Hinduism, Korravai (Korrawai), also spelled Kotravai or Korravai, is the goddess of battle and victory. She is Murugan's mother- god of war in Hindu pantheon, and Shiva's wife. 

She is both the goddess of the mother and the goddess of fertility, planting and hunters. She is often referred to in the latter form by other names and epithets in South India and Sri Lanka's Tamil tradition, such as Aiyai, Amari, Suli, and Kavuri.

She is among the earliest known goddesses in the Tamil Sangam literature, and she was also discovered in later Tamil literature, especially those related to Shaivism. 

In the many poems in Paripāṭal, she is mentioned, although the devoted poem to her is among those lost to history.

She is mentioned in the anthology of Pattuppattu-the long Tamil poems from 300 BCE to 300 CE, including the Neṭunalvāṭai, Maturaikkanci, Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai, and Paṭṭiṉappālai. In the Tamil epic Silappadikaram c 2nd century, she is known as the consort of Lord Shiva and the sister of Vishnu.

She is associated with the Durga-Mahisasuramardini and Kali goddess avatars of Parvati elsewhere in India, depending on the background and her fierceness. This may be the result, over the centuries, of a convergence of regional goddesses in the form of a pan-Hindu deity during the ancient proto-literate period into a single goddess version.

Korravai at the 7th century mandapa, Mahabalipuram.

In the ancient Tamil grammar Tolkappiyam, which is known to be the very first works of the Sangam literature, references are made to Kotravai. The name is derived from the root word korram in the Tamil language, which translates as "victory, success, bravery"

She is also seen as a mother goddess, a symbol of fertility and agricultural success. Traditional rural cultures give her the first harvest. She is identified as a war goddess who is bloodthirsty in some scriptures, such as the Silappadikaram and Ahamnanuru, and they also say that warrior devotees of the Goddess would even give the goddess their own head in a frenzy as an act of worship, love and devotion.

Across Tamil Nadu, the blackbuck (Kalaimaan) is considered to be the vehicle of the Hindu goddess Korravai. In the Mahishasuramardini mandapa Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, which was constructed approximately in the 7th century, she is also seen riding a lion. 

At the Varaha mandapam of Mahabalipuram, with a standing Korravai on a rock-relief panel, both the lion and the blackbuck are shown.

Going by the above findings and the attributes and practices associated with Korravai the semblances are noteworthy to anyone familiar with Diana, the Goddess of the hunt. 

The possibility of cultural exchanges between the early Sumerians and southern India via the trade routes reaching Malabar exists. With a similar origin story is the Samudhric Shastra (or Oceanic Scriptures) which include the planetary deities and some elements of astrology that have assimilated into the native Vedic culture and practices originally brought to India from Eurasia, the Mediterranean and the Romans of Europe over the last few millennia. This possibility of a relationship and a common source of origin or inception of belief system surrounding this specific Goddess needs to be further explored, examined and analyzed.

~Kiran Atma

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