IS MODERN AVURUDU ‘AVURUDU’?

Amalshan GUNERATHNE

Boiling milk in a clay pot

A New Year wish on mobile

Worshiping an elder

Worshiping the parents

Facebook photos on Avurudu

Has ‘Avurudu’ season lost its charm? Or has the season lost its magic that once used to soak our lives with excitement and fun? When growing up, as the sound of fiery firecrackers engulf the atmosphere with a festive ambiance, we used to wait in eager anticipation to experience the exhilarating fun and excitement that came with the ‘Avurudu’ season. As kids, ‘Avurudu’ is that time of the year we all looked forward to.

The new clothes, sweets, fireworks and friends meant that there is great fun to be had. But as we stepped into young adulthood, with the childhood exuberance no longer there to fuel us, we often find it hard to experience the same level of excitement and anticipation that we once felt towards the festive season. Is it the age that makes us feel that way towards the season or has the ‘Avurudu’ simply lost its magic?

No longer the same

May be bit of both, with mercenary companies, exploiting the season and using ‘Avurudu’ season as a tool to market their products, and with the urban lifestyle and hectic schedule preventing most from cherishing the season to the full, it is no wonder that ‘Avurudu’ no longer has the same charisma and charm that it once had on our lives.

As of the urban youth, they too have caught up in an endless competition with the modern hectic lifestyle that for most, a phenomenon such as ‘Avurudu’ has become meaningless. When queried, most youth did go on to express that they follow ‘Avurudu’ rituals and traditions, just for the sake of it, not with a deep-rooted passion. “I do not think I will do all those ‘Avurudu sirith-virith’, if not for parents. They still believe in those things and want to uphold those beliefs, so I just follow that to make them happy, Avurudu came during weekend, and all I wanted was to relax and just get away from hectic work for a moment, “ a twenty two year old went on to say.

Radical ideologies

Also, it is an age where you begin to question the purpose of things that you do. You get a burning need to question conventional norms, traditions and customs. It is an age where youth form their own radical ideologies or attitudes towards life and that may lead them to conclude that such seasonal celebrations are obsolete and outdated. May be it is the young blood, urging them to break-free from conventions and traditions, in their quest to experience novel things. They may also feel that ‘Avurudu’ rituals are hypocritical and are not practiced with a sincere passion. What is the purpose of sitting down for a lunch-table just for a day of the year? they would question.

As the season comes, everyone would suddenly put a false face, pretend and show to the world that everything is smooth and fine, where as on other days, they would just go about their routines in their own merry way, without giving a dime about what goes around them. It is not an unjust accusation, considering we live in a society where it is a must to put a hypocritical, false face to survive.

Cherishing the season

However contradictory to what being said above, most parents and seniors hold the view that irrespective of the hectic life, ‘Avurudu’ still has the capacity to bring everyone together. “At-least for a day, ‘Avurudu’ brings everyone together and is not a bad thing,” they would say.

That being said, the article is not meant to say that all youth believe in as such, in-fact there are those who strongly feel the passion to experience the charm of ‘Avurudu’ for what it is. But it is questionable as to whether even they get the opportunity to cherish the season for its core beauty.

‘Avurudu’ greetings on Facebook

A traditional table of sweetmeats

An oil anointing ceremony

For youth however ‘Avurudu’ has a different kind of charm now. For some, it is all about putting the most benevolent, heartfelt ‘Avurudu’ greeting on a Facebook status. Or else they would upload a photo on Facebook, tagging their friends, wishing them all sorts of happy greetings. Is that the way we are suppose to greet another for ‘Avurudu’- by uploading a photo on Facebook? If anything, being tagged to countless ‘Avurudu’ photos only irritate and infuriate the person that is being tagged to the image.

And since most relations are disjointed and do not have enough time to visit during ‘Avurudu’ season, they would just send a message or comment on your FB status with a wish. It is as if the days where you eagerly waited in anticipation for your relations to visit you for ‘Avurudu’ are no more. Instead everyone is on Facebook, and a kind message is all you get from your loved ones.

Loosing its appeal

And instead of the sound of firecrackers, you would get the irritating beep of your mobile phone. Dead-on auspicious time, hundreds of texts would come soaring to your mobile inbox, wishing you a ‘happy new year’.It is obvious that the season has lost its original charm. As absurd as it may seem, the season has lost its appeal to an extent that the traditional lighting of the hearth is done on a ‘Gas Cooker.’

The season may suffer from an identity crisis, but it still tries to make itself heard. Even in the age of Facebook and mobile phones, the season has somehow been able to survive. It has been a struggle, but it is still very much alive. However unless precautions are taken, times that the seasonal charm would get completely distorted, and ‘Avurudu’ would turn into just another commercialised yearly fiasco in the calendar is not far-away.