Buenos Aires Holidays: Touristic Bridge Holiday(?)

Today we observe the solemn and important Argentine holiday known as the "touristic bridge." When Argentine fixed day holidays occur on Tuesday or Thursday, they bridge the days to the weekend with an extra day off. So here's to celebrating yesterday's holiday with a super long weekend! Huzzah!

Buenos Aires Holidays: Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Today's bonus holiday is in honor of the Catholic "Feast of the Immaculate Conception." Celebrated on the 8 of December, which is 9 months prior to the the Virgin Mary's birth day (September 8th).

If my local staff are any indication, this Holiday tends to be celebrated... by not going to work.

Buenos Aires Holidays: National Sovereignty Day

It's not every day you celebrate losing a battle. However, that's exactly what we're doing today! As one of the more recent national holidays (since 2010), today commemorates the heavy losses suffered by the Anglo-French navy in the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado. It ended up bringing them to the bargaining table that ended in a peace treaty.

This holiday is celebrated similarly to Memorial day in the US. Generally with spending time outdoors in the newly nice weather and grilling.

It's a conveniently timed holiday for the Americans at Post, as it turns the 4-day weekend of Thanksgiving into a 5 day weekend (with one day of leave for Friday). Can't argue with that. Interestingly, Argentina's holidays in general appear to compliment well with the American holidays, leading to many free 4 day weekends.

Buenos Aires Holidays: Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity

Technically this isn't an "extra holiday," since it coincides with Columbus day in the US, but it's worth talking about. Many countries in the Americas celebrate this holiday: the anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the new world. Originally celebrating the 'civilizing' of the Americas, the focus was changed due to the massive disrespect they showed to the native cultures, many of which were massacred by the conquistadores. Now the holiday is about education and cultural displays by the descendents of the various indigenous peoples in the Americas. 

Buenos Aires Holidays: National Flag Day

Extra holiday number two this weekend, Día de la Bandera Naciona,l is a day to celebrate the Argentine flag and its creator Manuel Belgrano. Writing this (several months) late, I feel compelled to mention that I've since learned that they honor Belgrano in another fashion. Every city of any reasonable size we've been to in Argentina has a Belgrano street and/or bario. It is kind of a joke when we're travelling, because every time I asked my (navigating) wife where something was, the answer is inevitably: "Avenida Belgrano." He is a rather interesting man, who largely contributed to the independence of both Argentina and Paraguay.

Buenos Aires Holidays: Martin Miguel De Guemes Day

Argentina (and Embassy Buenos Aires) have done an excellent job pairing up holidays to make 4- and 5-day weekends. Today's extra holiday is courtesy of Martin Miguel De Guemes, a war hero from the Argentine War of Independence. This seems like a particularly poignant rememberance, with this year being the bicentennial for Argentine Independence. 

The story gets a little fuzzy for me here, since Argentina celebrated the 200th anniversary of the May Revolution in 2010, but are now again celebrating the 200th anniversary of actually declaring independence. You can read more on De Guemes on wikipedia...

Buenos Aires Holidays: Día de la Revolución de Mayo

New country, new set of host nation holidays to celebrate! Today's day off is courtesy of the Dia de la Revolucion de Mayo. This holiday is always on May 25th, regardless of the day of the week, and is the anniversary of the First Independent Government in Buenos Aires (1810).

Though they use the term "revolution," in reality it was just a sequence of socio-political events that led to the first government not designated by the Spanish Crown. There wasn't any violence attached to the change, but Argentine tradition calls it a revolution due to the definitive change in leadership from subservient to Spain, to independent. It did have the side effect of the Viceroy of Rio de la Plata (the area containing present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay) being ousted from office.

It's winter here, so I don't think we'll be celebrating like the 4th of July in the US... but I appreciate the day off work none-the-less. It's conveniently on a Wednesday before the 3 day weekend of Memorial day. That means for two days of leave, I could have had a 6 day weekend! Maybe next year.

Ayudha Puja

I mentioned Ayudha Puja last year, but it's worth revisiting. This year, we went to attend the group puja of a bunch of vehicles at one of the multi-family-residences. As it turns out, I parked in the wrong place... so I was invited to get my car puja'd as well. SCORE!

The puja (or pooja) is a multi step blessing process. First the vehicles (or tools) are cleaned. Then they are sprinkled with turmeric powder and kumkuma powder (also turmeric, just mixed with slaked lime which makes it change color) and palm leaves/flower leis are tied on.

Next, offerings of puffed rice and fruit are placed in front of the vehicle. Camphor is placed on top of an ash gourd and coconut, lit on fire, and the smoke is wafted around the blessed items. The gourd and coconut are then smashed open in the street (and left for passing animals).

Finally, a lemon is placed under each wheel (of the car) and the car drives forward, crushing them. This is said to bring good luck for the year. I like to think it means my car is now invulnerable. I wonder if I can get them to reduce my $70/year car insurance rate, in light of my car's new found power.

On a side note, everyone tells me that the minor "bang" I had yesterday was obviously because my car wasn't puja'd last year.

Actually a Diplomat, Part 2: Bastille Day!

Happy (early) Bastille day! (As previously mentioned, nobody wants to work on a holiday.) Tonight was the French representational event, celebrating Bastille Day. I was rather surprised to receive an invitation, but was grateful to accept. Let's be honest, who can say no to an evening of French food and wine!? It was a fun time and I left feeling sorry that the French Consulate is so far away (3 hours by car, in Puducherry), since it makes it hard to hang out with people I would otherwise have considered to be new friends.

Chennai Holidays: Tamil New Year’s Day & Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s Birthday

Today is one of the holidays in Chennai that the other posts in India don't get. The Foreign Service caps posts at a maximum of 20 holidays (10 US, 10 local) per year, but since different posts (and different consulates) have different local holidays... there's some flexibility. New Delhi had a day off last week, we have one this week!

Anyway, this week's relaxation Tuesday is thanks to Tamil New Year and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's birthday. Tamil New Year falls on the vernal equinox which is generally April 14th. Ambedkar's claim to ultimate fame (I mean, let's face it, is there any bigger honor then getting your birthday off from work?) was for his work in fighting class discrimination in India. 

Last Saturday night saw unusually crowded streets, at least for that time of day/week. We also noticed some fireworks being set off (though none today). In the end, it doesn't seem like a very big holiday around here, but it is none-the-less a welcome mid-week day off!

Chennai Holidays: Good Friday

Today is Good Friday, which also happens to be a holiday in Tamil Nadu. The following is an excerpt from Live Chennai on how Good Friday is celebrated by Christians:

The Good Friday celebration starts by kissing a plank of wood depicted on the cross of Christ. After this ritual people perform other practice which starts from 3 o’clock where narratives read out four gospels from the holy book and latter on general communion service is performed at midnight after which a burial takes place. On Good Friday particularly, the bells of the church remains silent (which rather on other days doesn’t) because this day is marked as a SAD DAY for Christians.

People follow the example of Jesus Christ and keep fast on this day as according to one story – Christ fasted in desert to overcome the Evil One for forty days before the beginning of His teachings. However, this period of forty days is popularly known as ‘Ash Wednesday’. This ends on ‘Lent’ also known as ‘Good Friday’ following the other day i.e. Easter Sunday.

Many people even today perform a three-hour service on Friday in remembrance of the death of Christ in which one service includes seven distinct elements stating seven utterances of Christ when he was hanged on cross. This incident is famously depicted in the small town near Goa (in India) called Panjim which celebrates Good Friday in large spirit. Many people gather there to take part in the celebrations which is held in full bloom in the churches.

That's one of the interesting things about India. As with most (historical) polytheistic dominant cultures, they are very tolerant of religions. This seems odd to say considering the tensions and history between India and Pakistan. Still, there are Muslim and Christian communities in Chennai that appear to live discrimination free.

Chennai Holidays: Republic Day

Today is Republic Day! I think it's pretty standard for every country to celebrate some day related to their founding. This year, President Obama was invited by Prime Minister Modi to be the "Chief Guest" at the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi. This has caused quite a stir in Mission India, but more on that in another post. Suffice to say, despite the "extra holidays" tag, many of the Americans in India are working today. Either way, Happy Republic Day!

PS: When I asked two of the local staff "How do you celebrate Republic Day?" They simultaneously answered with:
"Sleep in."
and
"Do nothing."

PPS: I love Modi's hat.

Chennai Holidays: Thiruvalluvar Day

Day two of our five day weekend (the fifth day being Martin Luther King day). Today is Thiruvalluvar Day. A holiday unique to Tamil Nadu, it is lumped in with the Pongal celebrations, but is actually in honor of the same-named Tamil poet. Thiruvalluvar lived sometime before the 2nd century BCE and has been called the greatest Tamil Scholar. His most famous work is the Tirukkuṛaḷ a work on ethics.

In the Pongal tradition, the day is dedicated to Surya, the sun god. Being a primarily agrarian celebration, the sun god naturally plays a central role. Sugar canes and coconuts are the gifts of choice for this day... which explains why I've seen autos all over town with sugar cane stalks strapped to them!

Chennai Holidays: Thai Pongal

Pongal! Although technically beginning yesterday, the State Government of Tamil Nadu recognizes the holiday on Thursday to allow for a 4 day weekend (spoiler alert, there's another holiday tomorrow!)

Pongal is a Tamil celebration dedicated to the harvest and abundance, not unlike American Thanksgiving. It is symbolized by a ritual of heating milk until it boils over and spills out of the pot. The word Pongal is actually Tamil for "overflowing."  On a colorful note, the normally white rice flour kolams were replaced with more colorful rangoli (a subset of Kolam) today! Pongal is also dish consisting mainly of rice sweetened with a dense cane sugar named "Jaggery." We had Pongal for breakfast earlier this week and it was delicious... though about as "breakfasty" as eating the Thai dessert "Sticky Rice with Mango."

Chennai Holidays: Deepavali

This week's bonus holiday is courtesy of Diwali or Deepavali, the festival of light. Let me just start by saying Diwali is a BIG deal. Most cultures/religions have an Autumn holiday to celebrate the harvest, but Diwali is the biggest and most celebrated holiday for Hindus, much like Christmas for Christians (slash most of the Western world). It was prefaced with several weeks of major sales and people cleaning and decorating. Starting nearly a week before the day we started hearing random fireworks going off. The evening before the holiday they began in earnest with literally thousands (if not millions) of fireworks going off. Diwali had scattered fireworks going off all day, but was otherwise one of the quietest days we've seen in India. There was almost no traffic and relatively few people on the streets. Once night fell though... the fireworks really picked up. The attached video (definitely watch it with the sound) gives you an idea of what it was like. We are lucky that we have roof access to our building and our building is higher than most of the surrounding buildings and trees. It was literally a 360 degree firework display. Every direction and every distance there were fireworks. From street crackers, to rooftop roman candles to professional grade sky bursters(?), you could literally read a newspaper by the light of all the fireworks. I know I'm using the word literally a lot, but standing on the roof seeing that many fireworks going off is... well, indescribable... I did my best, but it doesn't do it justice. At one point, I saw 5 roman candles going off on 5 different rooftops at the same time and that was in one direction. Oh yeah, and it went on for hours both nights!

Edit: It is now officially 2 days after Diwali... and there are still periodic fireworks going off (at midnight)!

Chennai Holidays: Eid al-Adha

Nothing like a BONUS bonus extra holiday. Today's holiday, Eid al-Adha, was originally a work day. However, the Tamil Nadu government declared it a holiday last week, so we got it off at the last minute. Score! Last minute 5th day to my long weekend. Of course, this makes us feel pretty silly for not planning a bigger trip (we did go somewhere, but more on that later).

Anyway, Eid al-Adha is an Islamic holiday honoring Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice his son (Ishmael). Muslims of sufficient affluence celebrate by sacrificing an animal and dividing the meat into three parts. One part is shared with their family, one part with their friends, and the third part goes to the needy. Of course, there is a good deal of ceremony and praying involved that I'm not really qualified to describe.

I am, however, qualified to say thank you for another bonus day off!

Chennai Holidays: Vijaya Dashami

Vijaya Dashami is the 10th and last day of Navratri. It literally means "the triumph of righteousness over evil." There are a ton of stories of various sinister demons and deities being defeated on this day. Hindus celebrate with parties, gift giving, and prayers for the upcoming harvest season. It is the beginning of a very festive season around here, as we get ready for Deepvali!

Chennai Holidays: Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday and Ayutha Puja

Today is a 'twofer' on the local holiday front. Mahatma Gandhi (who is kind of a big deal around here) was born on October 2, 1869 and it is also the Ayutha Puja, which falls on a different day each year (depending on the moon). I'm going to focus on Ayutha Puja, because I think most people are familiar with Gandhi. Though I will say, "Gandhi Day" is one of the biggest holidays here. It is one of the three government mandated holidays, so everyone (including most retail/food employees) gets it off.

Ayutha Puja is the 9th day of the Navratri festival. It is a celebration of tools and weapons. Tools are blessed, placed on pedestals, and worshiped. Vehicles are washed and blessed as well. I know the GSO spent some time observing blessings over various consulate equipment, and many personal drivers for consulate employees are blessing the cars they drive. We don't currently have a driver, and our all-arounder is Christian, so I think we will have to go without. It would have been an interesting event to observe, but maybe next year.

Around Chennai: Weekend trip to Kanchipuram

Chennai isn't really known for its weekend getaways. In fact, we rarely hear about anything other than Pondicherry (Puducherry). Well... in an effort to break the mold, we took advantage of our long weekend to leisurely see the nearby town of Kanchipuram. 

Kanchipuram is about 100 minutes away by car (at light traffic times). It's a pretty big deal among Indian tourists, because there are a lot of Hindu temples there. It's sometimes nicknamed "City of a Thousand Temples." While this may be technically true... Chennai probably also technically has 1000 temples. There are mini-temple shrines all over the place. Anyway, the temples are only open from 6-12 and 4-8, so we decided a day trip was not ideal.  

View from our hotel, the GRT Regency.

We strategically planned our drive during my son's nap. Consequentially, we arrived at a perfect time to hit the "afternoon opening times" for the temples. We started with the Varadharaja Perumal Temple.

The entrance Gopuram

Since the inner sanctum of the temple is restricted to Hindus, this temple provided a 'tourist area' where you could see the "marriage hall." The temple had a hundred pillars, each ornately carved from one stone, many with quite erotic depictions (not shown).

At the recommendation of a random fellow temple goer, we took a walk around the temple tank to see the horses.

They did not appear to be doing well.

There was a nice photo op though.

Look at that "moush" (mustache)!

We decided to walk home to take in some of the street life (rather than taking an auto). 

Brick carrying, just the way we saw it in Amazing Race!

It's great seeing construction here, because concrete and such don't come bags, rather in piles.
The guy in the yellow shirt was hauling some from the pile to the mixer.

We couldn't tell if this place sold wood, or turned it into charcoal first.
Either way, it sure looks cool!

The festival to Ganesh was in full swing, here is one of the many statues we've seen.

Car wash water

As we neared our hotel, we stumbled upon something that made the entire walk worth it. MONKEYS! This was our first monkey sighting in India, and it was just as glorious as we'd anticipated.

If you look closely, you can see the baby clinging on.

I don't know what they were advertising, but I hope it's top hats.

City of a Thousand Temples. Some are bigger than others.

Home sweet home.

The next morning, we started by hitting up the local Saravana Bhavan for breakfast (an excellent South Indian chain). After breakfast, we headed to Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple, reported to have beautiful gardens. This was the furthest temple from town. We hired an auto driver to take us round trip, but ended up hiring him by the hour for the rest of the day.

The temple dates back to the 7th century. It was originally colored using vegetable based paints. Most of the paint has worn away by now, but the small remaining sections show that it was quite intricately painted. The bright white sections are where they recently re-plastered to protect the soft sandstone of the main structure.

I should clarify... when you're told a place in India has lush gardens, what they mean is... grass... Pretty nice grass, but... just grass.

As the temples closed for their daily siesta, we checked out a couple of the local museums. The first one, Kanchi Kudil, displayed a typical farmer's housing from a hundred years ago. 

Recliner

Water-catching atrium

We continued on to the Sakunthala Jagannatham Museum of Folk Art, which was a little more extensive, though still nowhere near what we'd call a museum in the US. 

I apparently didn't take many pictures, but they had a nice collection of silks, musical instruments, paintings, sculptures, and antique tools.

It also had a good view of  a nearby Gopuram.

Both museums were also people's houses, so it was a little weird walking around. The museum sections were mostly marked off, but it was still awkward.

A note about museums here: they don't have much info in their exhibits. We expected to need hours to explore each museum, but in reality, we spent half an hour or less at each.

After our temple closing and insanely hot weather prompted siesta, we headed back out, starting with Vaikunda Perumal Temple.

Being a temple to Vishnu... pretty much every carving was of Vishnu in some situation.

Every temple you visit in Kanchipuram has "tour guides" that start showing you around pretty much immediately after you show up. This is whether you want them to... or ask them not to... or don't have money... Rs 200 is the going rate for tip (at least for Americans). It is nice to have someone to take family photos...

Elephant battle

Empty temple tank

Mohanraj was pretty much on autopilot at this point, taking us to the "must see" temples. Next up: Kamakshi Amman Temple. This temple had an elephant that would bless you for a coin. 

Gopuram - the tall pyramid on top of the entrance to Hindu temples.

I don't know why, but I love panoramics.

Last but not least, we headed to Ekambareswara Temple. This is the largest temple in Kanchipuram and also the most commercial. Having made a tactical error in forgetting to restock my wallet with money back at the hotel, we had some problems dodging tour guides and "blessing givers." (We failed, but joke was on them, I wasn't lying when I showed them my empty wallet.)

NOM NOM COCONUT

Possibly the "main event" for the temple, this is a 3500 year old mango tree. We later learned that it had actually died 9 years prior, making this a 9 year old mango tree. Since 9 is way less impressive than 3500, they still go with the latter. They do have piece of the old truck on display (of course I'm skeptical of the claim, mostly because of the internet).

                                         

We picked up a 'parcel' (read: to go) dinner on the way back to the hotel, only to find our room was being serviced. So we took a walk up to the roof garden, where we saw yet more monkeys (and hurriedly departed when one got a little too close for comfort)! 

Dinner before...

and after.

By Sunday evening, we had visited pretty much all the temples we'd planned to see. So the next morning we decided to revisit the luscious "gardens" at Kailasantha for some play time for my son, before driving home at nap time.

Nearby houses, I love the tin OVER the thatch.

We ended the trip with another 100ish minutes drive home. If I had the trip to do again (and especially without a 2 year old in tow), I'd suggest doing it with only 1 overnight. I think arriving one morning, siesta-ing during the closing time, sight seeing again in the evening, and following morning would more than cover all of the major sights - unless you wanted to take advantage of Kanchipuram's other big draw: SILKS!