Bless this house!

Namaste,
One morning, when I arrived at the office recently, I was surprised to see the shop below our premises had been completely transformed overnight. There was sheeting covering all the produce which had been moved to the back of the shop, and the cleared space had been turned into a place of prayer.
Lots of chairs had been arranged outside, and a tarpaulin stretched above for shade, so obviously many guests were expected.



There were offerings and flowers covering the carpeted floor and a small fire burning on the concrete. The landlord informed me they were holding a special day of prayer and celebration to bless the house and family.

The landlord's mother enjoying the celebrations

During the day, whilst we worked upstairs, we were aware of many different noises - a horn blowing at times, chanting of prayers and gradually the sound of many people.  Looking down from the balcony we could see a large crowd of relations, the women dressed in their best colourful clothes and some of the men in traditional outfits, processing around the fire which had been built outside on the side of the road. They were singing and throwing grain into the fire.

I went downstairs to watch what was happening and one of the family, who spoke good English, kindly explained to me all about the event.

Later, when work was almost over, we were all invited to join the party.  To start with we were given a plate with banana pieces and a large 'sel roti', (almost like a fried doughnut but not sweet). Large vats of food had been prepared and vegetable curry, dahl and a sort of milky, spicy rice were being served to everyone, once they had finished the starter. Delicious!

Rice, dahl and vegetable curry being served

We sat on the chairs in the road and joined in the party.

My colleagues and I enjoying the food.

I was told that the celebrations would continue into the evening with dancing, but I didn't stay for that. I had a school visit the next morning to prepare for!
















What a privilege to be invited to join the family for this important festival. 'Thank you' to our landlord for inviting us.  He obviously enjoyed himself - as you can see from the photo below!