Page 61 - MONSOON EDITION

TEACHERS’ CORNER

BHAVIKA VORA
SST - TGT
FESTIVALS - CULTURE AND HERITAGE

Festivals are an expressive way to celebrate a glorious heritage, culture and traditions. They are
meant to rejoice special moments and emotions in our lives with our loved ones. They play an
important role to add structure to our social lives, and connect us with our families and
backgrounds.

Culture is a strong part of people's lives. It influences their views, their values, their
humor, their hopes, their loyalties, and their worries and fears. So when you are working with
people and building relationships with them, it helps to have some perspective and understanding
of their cultures.

Hence, festivals which are regarded as a part of intangible cultural heritage, are also one
of our cultural values that should be passed on to the future in their original forms by conserving
their traditional characteristics. Communities in every country, culture and history have
celebrated festivals.

A festival is a special occasion of feasting or celebration, usually with a religious focus.
Aside from religion, and sometimes folklore, another significant origin is agricultural. Many
festivals are associated with harvest time.
True enough, here is what we can gather from festivals:

• It helps us to stay connected to our roots, our culture, our values, our origin and to
preserve it.
• It helps people come together and celebrate. A time to forget all the chaos of life and to
embrace good hopes.
• A time to embrace all the hard work done in the past and to celebrate its rewards and
fruits.
• Helps to document culture in an undocumented manner.
• Tells the tale of evolution throughout the years from the changes in the way of
celebration.
• It tells us about mythologies and elevates our faith, giving us lessons from inside those
mythologies.
We celebrate the good will and teachings we get from them.
Last but not the least -
“The greatness of a culture can be found in its festivals”

59