House blessing

We have many Guyanese families in Schenectady. Many of them are Hindu. There is a custom of blessing a house with a religious ceremony called a puja. This is done on a particularly auspicious day for the home owner. The celebration includes food, offerings, music, singing and the erection of small flags, called jhandis.

We'd noticed the flags, of course - they're beautiful and bright when new, but they remain in the yard until tattered and faded. To our Western eyes, they don't look quite so appealing then.

One very kind lady explained to us that flying the jhandis are a way to keep blessings on the house. As the wind blows, it blows the blessings from the flags to the house. There's real poetry in that.

Blessings on you all.