Fuck yeah superstition!

gee, somehow i haven't mentioned the craziness of the hindu religion for a while... so let's examine the worship of durga -- a bad ass bitch with ten arms who will fuck you up if you don't follow her lead.

the following quote comes from the new book by world renown indian art expert pratapaditya pal, which is all about the "sacred" imagery of durga:

"during the '40s of the last century durga was worshiped every autumn in our home in calcutta (now kolkata), in a polished brass waterpot. on shashthi, the sixth day of the lunar fortnight in the month of ashwin (september-october), the family priest would ceremoniously consecrate the pot by filling it with water from the holy river ganga (known as the hooghly as it flows past the city to the bay of bengal), inserting a twig with mango leaves (snapped from the tree behind our house) into the neck, then place a green coconut, which was covered with a thin, gauzy towel of the native kind, on its aperture. on the front of the pot he would paint an abstract stick figure with vermilion and so the terrestrial form was ready for the goddess to be invoked. then with offerings of food and flowers, appropriate rituals and mantras, she would be worshiped for four days until the tenth (dashami or dassera), and the family would gather around the priest for the final blessings known as shanti or peace."

uh... WHAT THE FUCK!?!?

so what happens if i accidentally use papaya leaves instead of mango leaves? what if i don't quite make it a fortnight? what if the coconut isn't quite green?

the human mind is certainly full of imagination... and its ability to apply meaning to the completely meaningless, arbitrary and random is fucking astounding.

i'm so glad i'm not a part of the delusional camp.

so fucking glad.