The Power Of Celebration

“People of our time are losing the power of celebration.
Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained.
Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation.
To be entertained is a passive state–it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle….
Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.”
(From “The Wisdom of Heschel” by Abraham Joshua Heschel)

This was shot from the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) during the celebrations of Dev Diwali on the occasion of Kartik Poornima.
The festival of Lights is a mark of welcome to the Gods as it is believed that they descend on earth on that special day.
In the evening under the full moon reflecting in the holy waters each ghat is performing Ganga Aarti with vedic hymns chanted by priests in order to please and welcome the Gods.

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Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

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Sacred Moments

“A ritual becomes the match that lights the kindred celebration candle of sacred moments long ago… tantalizing these entombed spirits to surface again.”
(Wes Adamson)

This was shot from a boat on the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) during the celebrations of Dev Diwali on the occasion of Kartik Poornima.
The festival of Lights is a mark of welcome to the Gods as it is believed that they descend on earth on that special day.
In the evening under the full moon reflecting in the holy waters each ghat is performing Ganga Aarti with vedic hymns chanted by priests in order to please and welcome the Gods.

Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

Matam for Devotion

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

“(Once when he happened to pass by Karbala), Isa (Jesus) sat down and began to weep.

His disciples who were observing him, followed suit and began weeping too, but not comprehending the reason for this behaviour, they asked him: “O’ Spirit of God! What is it that makes you weep?”
Isa (Jesus) said: “Do you know what land this is?”
The disciples replied: “No.”
He then said: “This is the land on which the son of the Prophet Muhammad shall be killed”.
(Ali to Ibn Abbas – Bihar al-Anwar vol. 44,g. 252)

This was shot in Varanasi (Benaras) during the Mourning of Muharram which marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala when Imam Hussain ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and a Shia Imam, was killed by the forces of the second Umayad caliph Yazid I.
Those young devotees congregate together in public for ceremonial chest beating (matam) as a display of their devotion to Imam Husayn and in remembrance of his suffering.

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Processions of Muharram

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Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

“Every Mu’min, whose eyes shed tears upon the killing of Husayn ibn’ Ali and his companions, such that the tears roll down his cheeks, God shall accommodate him in the elevated rooms of paradise”.
(Muhammad – Bihar al-Anwar, vol,: 44;pg,:293)

This picture was shot a few hours ago from a railway bridge in Varanasi (Benaras) which allowed me to see the Muharram procession commemorating the mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.
Profusely decorated taziyas (bamboo and paper replicas of the martyr’s tomb), embellished with gilt and mica are carried through city streets.
Mourners beat their breasts lamenting and grieving over the murder, accompanied by drum beats.
Wrestlers and dancers enact scenes depicting the battle at Karbala and at each step young men beat their breasts crying “Husain! Husain!” in collective sorrow.

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