For many people, as the clock strikes midnight on January 1st, they greet the arrival of a new year with fireworks, Happy New Year text messages that flood their cell phones, and the creation of New Year’s resolutions. Like many other countries, India also participates in the celebration of New Year’s Day; however, this question lies quietly in the background while we are all celebrating—are we celebrating January 1st because it is easy, or is it merely accepted without consideration of what our own cultural traditions represent?
Historically, the January 1st observance did not begin with Indian culture; it has its origins in Ancient Rome’s method of designing a calendar for administration and regulation of government. Throughout time, the Roman government changed their calendar multiple times, and eventually, the Gregorian calendar came to be used by people throughout the world for the standardization of timekeeping. The Gregorian calendar is logical and practical, but it does not truly reflect the Indian people’s cultural or spiritual connection to the concept of time and was developed by people from an entirely different civilization with an entirely different set of societal changes.
India has always had multiple New Year traditions instead of one single New Year tradition, unlike many civilizations. All of the New Year traditions present in India have deep connections with nature, seasons, agriculture, and astronomy. Each region of India has its own New Year celebration, such as Chaitra Shukla Pratipada and Ugadi to Vishu, Baisakhi, and the Gujarati New Year after Diwali—every region of India celebrates its New Year reflecting the cycles of nature. All New Year celebrations, in all regions of India, are based on scientific findings made by observing the sun, moon, and seasons. The above examples demonstrate that India has never lacked knowledge or structure when it comes to measuring time.
Does this mean mental enslavement when an individual or individuals, therefore, celebrate January 1st? The answer is more complicated than simply saying “yes” or “no.” This will only become a problem when or if a person or persons begin to view January 1st as the only “true” New Year, or when other calendars in India are disregarded as “outdated,” or when a child’s first exposure to calendars is only the Roman calendar, because by that time it presents a barrier instead of progress due to an individual’s lack of cultural awareness.
Despite this position regarding January 1st as a date to celebrate, its true meaning and value are viewed as administrative and civil. As India utilizes the Gregorian calendar for many civil purposes, the country also uses the Gregorian calendar for practical functions such as governance, education, banking, and international or global business. Just as we utilize English as a common means of global communication, we utilize a common calendar—the Gregorian calendar—for similar reasons, namely convenience. Therefore, just because there is a common global system, this does not necessitate the discarding of individual cultural identities; rather, this should support the continued respect for each other’s roots and cultural identities.
The real issue is not with the date itself, January 1st; rather, it is more about the loss of our own traditions. True independence does not come from exclusively rejecting everything that is global, nor from blindly accepting everything that is global; rather, it comes from understanding and consciously considering our choices. People who have a sense of their history will have greater self-confidence; those who do not have a sense of their history will slowly begin losing their sense of self. Those who know their history will have greater self-confidence than those who do not know their history.
This topic also provides students with a critical life lesson on the meaning of using global tools versus preserving their cultural identity. Intelligence is demonstrated by using a global tool such as the Gregorian calendar; however, wisdom is demonstrated through the preservation of cultural identity, that is, one’s own roots. The value of using a common global system is that it allows us to use systems that have been developed over thousands of years by other cultures. However, it is critical to understand that education is intended to prepare students for a career, but education is also intended to assist students in understanding who they are and where they came from.
In conclusion, the Balanced Indian Way is the most logical path to follow. We can celebrate January 1st as New Year’s Day but, at the same time, allow our individual celebrations to keep us in tune with our cultural and spiritual rhythms.Thus, there will not be any conflict—only clarity and confidence.
While celebrating New Year’s Eve and January 1st does not necessarily indicate that we in India are mentally subjugated, the sole celebration of January 1st, while ignoring the myriad of rich cultural traditions within our calendars, reflects an even greater lack of awareness of ourselves as a culture. Knowledge, choice, and balance equate to true freedom; imitation without the benefit of understanding does not equate to freedom.
The culmination of learning to leading—the highest form of success—comes only when we learn the proper understanding of time, allowing us to successfully move into tomorrow without compromising our past.