Rtu-Ritu - Ritu Chakra - WINTER: Frozen Slumber

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RTA-RITU - An Exhibition on Cosmic Order and Cycle of Seasons

RITU CHAKRA...

WINTER: Frozen Slumber

Cold, cold, with heavy dews falling thick,

and colder yet with the moonbeams' icy glitter,

lit with ethereal beauty by man stars,

these nights give no comfort or joy to people.

Kalidasa's Ritusumhara 5.4

The fields where sesamum has ripened

and now lies dry delight the doves;

the mustard turns to brown,

its flowers giving way to fruit;

the wind scatters the hemp

and makes the body shiver with its drops of sleet;

travelers, quarreling in empty argument,

huddle about the public fire.

Yogesvara

The solar year draws to a close. But since the hurtling earth traces an elliptical path in space, the seeming finality of winter cold is only the passage back towards the ever-new familiarity of spring. As our planet changes its position relative to the sun, the latter appears to move across a backdrop of constellations. On the 12th/13th of January is the winter solstice in our part of the globe, following ancient astronomical reckoning. The sun is as its lowest ebb, in the sign of Capricorn, its fires almost entirely swallowed up by a demonic darkness, according to the traditional astrological imagery.

The solar deity being at the nadir of his formidable power might have been cause for depression among his human subjects and dependents. But in India we recognize that the moment of acutest crisis is also the turning point. After the worst, things can only get better. Therefore Sankranti is welcomed with rejoicing in most of North India, with rice harvest celebration in Bengal and Lohri in Punjab. The corresponding festival in the South is Pongal, which is also the Tamil New Year, when people take cognizance of the bounty of their soil and its cattle, and in the villages ritually break old clay utensils (used for a year) to place fresh orders with local potters.

If in our culture winter is ushered in with homage to the regenerative potential in sunfire, among the ancient Celtic peoples too there was the custom of worshipping fire as an emblem of winter, but by association with the dying old year, and the forlorn spirits of the dead seeking return to the firesides of their homes where the living still huddled close together. The sacrificial bonfires of All Hallows Day gradually became Christianized to All Saints Day on November l/2. The weird masks worn by children today to celebrate Hallowe’en in mimicking the powers of darkness, recall the era inspired by the old festival when the dead were supposed to rise from their graves.

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