New Year; New Beginning? (Sinhala and Tamil New Year Special)

Sinhala and Tamil New Year have arrived. The whole country is in a festive mood despite of the economic decline and political instability. People are celebrating the New Year with enthusiasm optimism never seen before. Indeed a lot have changed since last year, but is this all worth the celebration?

What is a New Year? I believe that it is just an astrological phenomenon in which changes to the celestial cycles happen. Those cycles kept changing even before the emergence of the mankind. It is the man who had interpreted the natural events according to his belief. Almost all of the civilizations regardless of the geographical boundaries have cultural events resembling the Sinhala-Tamil New Year Festival. The main characteristic of any such festival is the celebration of the upcoming year. The time for that year can vary thus making difference in calendars.

People have divided the time into cycles, a considerable amount of time in which the changes in the environment happens. It can be seasonal changes where four seasons rotate or changes in the rain patterns. In Sri Lanka, it is mainly based on the agricultural seasons. When the paddy cultivating season is over, people have nothing to do besides enjoying the harvest. Cultural development intervened and mixed with religious beliefs making the present New Year festival.

Everything connected with New Year is about a new beginning, setting aside old possessions and acquiring new.  Although material can be set aside, what about our thoughts? It is correct to say that our thoughts change rapidly but some remains with us for a long time buried in to our mind like scares. All the heartbreaks, sorrows and demeaning thoughts can never be erased easily. If our house gets untidy, it can be cleaned for the coming of the New Year. Most of us have a habit of doing so. It is applicable for our thoughts also? I hardly agree with it.

Human mind is hardwired in the way that only the unpleasant experiences remain in the mind. Our insecurities, rejections and helplessness remain as the constant companion with us reminding us although how strong we are from the outside, we are prone to shattering. It acts like a safety mechanism preventing us from dangerous situations.

Setting old thoughts and moving on is very hard if not impossible.  Anyway a New Year is not a new beginning at all, it is just an indication of a continuous time period spanning unknown to eternity. People only allocate chunks of that vast time period for their living and further make cycles of time and call them the fancy word ‘Year’.

I’ve written this short submission not to discourage anyone or not to make anyone pessimistic but to make everyone understand that the mental baggage cannot be easily set aside and if anyone thinks the New Year as a portal for a complete transformation physically and mentally, he is utterly mistaken. Thoughts remain the same and people remain as they are with all the feelings. Only time will make the long-term difference even that is highly questionable so let’s not fall in to the pessimistic or optimistic bandwagon but think realistically.