Saturday, January 23, 2016

Honey, who were there at your birthdays? (Gregorian Calendar)

Indian intellectual Amartya Sen talks about many different calendars followed by different cultures in the second to the last chapter of his The Argumentative Indian (《好思辨的印度人》Allen Lane, 2005).

It seems as if the Gregorian Calendar prevails nowadays; however, from what I read from Sen, it is more of a lack of knowledge of other calendars or even of how one's own culture used to register the passing of years. For example, the mixed effect of the Gregorian Calendar and the Chinese Lunar Calendar is rather obvious upon the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. So, we become rather busy.

As a result of the influence of Christianity, we celebrate the crossing of New Year and Christmas; in fact, some villages are so famous in their celebration that they've become a seasonal tourist destination.

Also, as a result of the influence from Chinese culture, we celebrate lunar new year worrying where to come up with the red-envelop money for younger kids, sweep tombs of bygone family members and eat Zhongzi (sticky rice) on Dragon Boat Festival and moon cakes on Moon Festival. What is missing are the many types of rituals and ceremonies that used to direct people's way of life because the environment has changed dramatically.


Paiwan Every Day 668: pai

pai, kinemnemanga tiamadju tu kemacu tua ljigim nua kakinan.   Free translation : Now, they decided to take their mother's sewing needle...