To celebrate Diwali, we wanted to share this SAPIEN piece, written by Dimitris Xygalatas
) out of flammable materials such as paper, straw, and sawdust, and dress them in real clothes. For good measure, they may also blend in some gunpowder or fill the effigies with fireworks.
Those figurines stand for the old year and everything bad that it might have brought. Many of them represent politicians or famous villains, such as the Biblical Judas. Others are more personal, depicting a personal foe or abuser. And some pay tribute to individuals who perished during the previous year.
In San Cristóbal, Venezuela, community members prepare to burn effigies of “runaway inflation” to mark the start of the new year in 2018.On New Year’s Eve, people take their effigies to the streets. When the clock strikes midnight, they soak them in gasoline and carefully ignite them before running away. From a safe distance, they watch them explode and burn to the ground in a symbolic attempt to exorcize bad memories and welcome new beginnings..
In its ancient form, this 12-day festival involved carnivalesque feasting and dancing, religious processions, animal sacrifices, and recitations of the Babylonian epic of creation,. The festivities were attended by the high priest and the king. The two of them enacted a rather peculiar ritual: The priest stripped the king of his regalia, slapped him in the face, dragged him by the ear, and forced him to kneel before the statue of the great god Marduk.