mines of ganapati bappa moriya
i know i know...its an awful title, but i couldn't resist.
its been years since i've been in India on Ganesh Chathurthi. I associate that festival with my birthday so much, since its often coincided with August 30. I miss it, especially in Pune when they used to have these giant streetside displays with mechanical robots acting out mythological plays.
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/temple.hindou/fetegan.htm
who would have thought they celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi in Paris!
My cursory research into Ganesh-culture (as i have now begun to call it) reveals some interesting things. The universal lovability of our favorite elephant headed God transcends all cultures and religions. So many people world wide love our favorite obstacle remover. Everyone is charmed by his sweet, loving disposition. His mythological stories are full of his respect for his parents and devotion to them. No wonder hes so popular!
Hindu religion and religious symbols have quickly found a space in popular East Asian culture too. Theres a lot of Anime art that use Hindu imagery.
http://www.tuttomanga.com/marcoalbiero/18-animeemanga/SAINT_SEIYA/SAINT_SEIYA_FRIENDS/GANESH%20SHAKA.jpg
South East Asian cultures have strong Hindu influences too. Thailand and Indonesia especially. One of last years most popular films in Thailand was one called "Paksa Wayu" http://www.mjsimpson.co.uk/reviews/garuda.html
which is the Thai word for Garuda. Of course, in this movie, Garuda is a flesh eating monster...which caused controversy, since Garuda is regarded as good and the mount for Lord Vishnu. Reappropriation and remediation, its so interesting to see it, especially when they take imagery and ideas that are so commonplace for us and turn them around on their head.
another example of this: http://interpretivearson.com/ddi/
i know this is unrelated to Hinduism, but if anyone is familiar with console games, then they know what Dance Dance Revolution is. DDR is a hugely popular game where a player has to dance on a pad which has markers on it. When the game starts, fast dance tracks play and markers starts floating on the screen (imagine a reverse tetris, but faster). The player has to quickly jump on the right markers and not miss a single one to win. Its a workout and its insane to watch two players fight it out playing together.
My friend Jill Fantauzza (aka crazy brilliant artist) and her husband Zach Coffin, are involved with this project for Burning man (more on burning man later). But the idea is, they've taken DDR and turned it around on its head. They equipped the game with flame throwers. If you do well, flame throwers spray flames in the air. If you mess up, they throw flames in your face! Wearing fire resistant clothes and protective helmets is mandatory.
I doubt i'll have the guts to go play that...however, i will continue to reminisce about my favorite festival for a while.
its been years since i've been in India on Ganesh Chathurthi. I associate that festival with my birthday so much, since its often coincided with August 30. I miss it, especially in Pune when they used to have these giant streetside displays with mechanical robots acting out mythological plays.
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/temple.hindou/fetegan.htm
who would have thought they celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi in Paris!
My cursory research into Ganesh-culture (as i have now begun to call it) reveals some interesting things. The universal lovability of our favorite elephant headed God transcends all cultures and religions. So many people world wide love our favorite obstacle remover. Everyone is charmed by his sweet, loving disposition. His mythological stories are full of his respect for his parents and devotion to them. No wonder hes so popular!
Hindu religion and religious symbols have quickly found a space in popular East Asian culture too. Theres a lot of Anime art that use Hindu imagery.
http://www.tuttomanga.com/marcoalbiero/18-animeemanga/SAINT_SEIYA/SAINT_SEIYA_FRIENDS/GANESH%20SHAKA.jpg
South East Asian cultures have strong Hindu influences too. Thailand and Indonesia especially. One of last years most popular films in Thailand was one called "Paksa Wayu" http://www.mjsimpson.co.uk/reviews/garuda.html
which is the Thai word for Garuda. Of course, in this movie, Garuda is a flesh eating monster...which caused controversy, since Garuda is regarded as good and the mount for Lord Vishnu. Reappropriation and remediation, its so interesting to see it, especially when they take imagery and ideas that are so commonplace for us and turn them around on their head.another example of this: http://interpretivearson.com/ddi/
i know this is unrelated to Hinduism, but if anyone is familiar with console games, then they know what Dance Dance Revolution is. DDR is a hugely popular game where a player has to dance on a pad which has markers on it. When the game starts, fast dance tracks play and markers starts floating on the screen (imagine a reverse tetris, but faster). The player has to quickly jump on the right markers and not miss a single one to win. Its a workout and its insane to watch two players fight it out playing together.
My friend Jill Fantauzza (aka crazy brilliant artist) and her husband Zach Coffin, are involved with this project for Burning man (more on burning man later). But the idea is, they've taken DDR and turned it around on its head. They equipped the game with flame throwers. If you do well, flame throwers spray flames in the air. If you mess up, they throw flames in your face! Wearing fire resistant clothes and protective helmets is mandatory.
I doubt i'll have the guts to go play that...however, i will continue to reminisce about my favorite festival for a while.
posted by sam i am at 9:56 AM
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