Kaarthigai Deepam - FAQ and JUFAQ

Let's jump right into the definitions here! First the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Kaarthigai Deepam :

The Tamizh version of the festival of lights to celebrate Lord Muruga's (aka Kaarthikeya, Son of Shiva) incarnation in the form of six children. Sometimes coincides with Thiru-Annamalai-Deepam, a large oil light lit on top of the Annamalai Hill for Lord Shiva.

When :

Tamizh month of Kaarthigai, full moon day

How long :

3 days.

What is done :

Light earthern lamps, burst crackers, eat rice crispy treats also known as "pori urundais" (Pori - puffed rice, urundai - ball).

On the second day, there is a general house clean up. When I was four five years old, I remember my grandma calling the second day "kuppai Karthigai" (Kuppai literally means Garbage). She would clean up the house and put lights in the corners.

The third day was "pee kaarthigai" (pee literally means feces in Tamizh!). This was a day for cleaning the bathrooms, drains, and there were lights pretty much everywhere in the house. We also used to light the lamps with neem oil on the last day. The neem oil has significant medicinal value (I read an article where Americans are trying to create Neem tree farms in Texas so they can harvest neem oil for medicines!). Maybe it was our ancestors way of disinfecting the house by burning lamps with neem oil.

Here are some pictures from yesterday..

Now for the JUFAQ ( Jr.'s Unanswerable Frequently Asked Questions).

We were at the Livermore temple yesterday. Lord Muruga's idol was dressed up with a golden crown, golden Vel(spear)and lots of flowers. I wanted to meditate for a few minutes.

Jr. came sat next to me and says :

Jr. : Why is he all dressed up? Is it his birthday today?
Me : Yes.
Jr. : How old is he today?
Me : He is one more year older today...
Jr. : Is he a kid?
Me : Yeah (the idol here does make the god look like a kid)
Jr. : which school does he go to?
Me : (at this point, losing all hopes of any meditation). He goes to a special school for god babies.

there were more questions, no answers and we started back from the temple.

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