Why cannot 'Pateti' be 'Happy', for crying out loud?!!
This 'Pateti' (the last day of the Parsi calendric year), like every year, I sent out messages to my friends, family and relatives, wishing them a ‘Happy Pateti’ and ‘Pateti mubarak’. But this year, the greetings have garnered some backlashes.
A couple of my Parsi friends responded to my well-meaning ‘Pateti’ greetings with pedantic messages aiming at informing me about the inappropriateness of my greetings.
According to them the impropriety of my greetings stems from the fact that ‘Pateti’ is not a day of celebration, but a day of repentance. It is to cleanse yourself of your sins, ask your maker for redemption and resolve to be a better person in the coming year. This act of redeeming oneself of past sins is performing the ‘Patet’ as it were... a fact not unknown to most Parsis (including me).
However to one of these friends it seemed highly inappropriate that I should affix such a day of ‘Patet’ (Repentance) with words such as ‘Happy’ or ‘Mubarak’, and she let me know her sentiments, in so many words.
As if in concurrence to her message, a particular post (1) by a Parsi blogger has been doing its rounds on Facebook. The blogger expresses his disdain towards well-wishers and friends, both Parsi and non-Parsi (with a stronger contempt for the former), who make him “cringe” every time they sound off ‘Happy Pateti’ or ‘Pateti Mubarak’ wishes. He draws an analogy to show what 'Pateti' has in common with ‘Good Friday’ (the Christian day of mourning) as well as 'Muharram' (the day of mourning among the followers of Islam), that is, “you do not wish someone on such a day”.
So in response to these messages and at the risk of seeming irreverent, I argue and question thus.
It seems as if in the blogger’s post the allusion to ‘Good Friday’ and ‘Muharram’ are means to justify his interpretation of ‘Pateti’. Clearly, they are days of mourning for the Christians and Muslims, respectively and justifiably so; ‘Good Friday’ being the day Jesus - ‘the son of God’ was crucified and ‘Muharram’ being the day the grandson of Prophet Mohammad was martyred in battle. How can they be equated to Pateti? What are we mourning about on 'Pateti'? It is surely a day of deliverance but not one of grief or loss. A poor analogy that!
In tandem with my earlier point, why should a day of repentance be a day of mourning? Should we not rather rejoice in the ‘Cleansing Act’ (Patet), knowing we are redeeming ourselves of our past transgressions and moving on to being better humans? Wishing someone ‘Happy Pateti’ is an act of celebration, a time for acknowledging our oneness as fallible humans, and thereby aspiring and encouraging one another towards the betterment of the self and the community/society as a whole. What can be more celebratory than the act of purging one’s self and moving on towards a better and brighter future!!
My final bone of contention is with the "religion-police" who completely disregard the possibility of an open or plural interpretation of religious tenets, rituals or beliefs. They overlook the fact that religion does not aim at an air-tight, singular ideology but rather it provides numerous possibilities to choose from, in order for us to lead a better and fulfilling life. And that gets reflected in the core Zoroastrian philosophy of “Humata, Hukta, Hvarasta” – Good Thoughts, Good words, Good Deeds!
So from my side I wish you, one and all, a Happy Pateti and a Happier New Year (YZ 1387)!!!
(1) http://eatsfeedsanddigs.blogspot.in/2017/08/my-name-is-pateti-and-i-am-no-ones-new.html
A couple of my Parsi friends responded to my well-meaning ‘Pateti’ greetings with pedantic messages aiming at informing me about the inappropriateness of my greetings.
According to them the impropriety of my greetings stems from the fact that ‘Pateti’ is not a day of celebration, but a day of repentance. It is to cleanse yourself of your sins, ask your maker for redemption and resolve to be a better person in the coming year. This act of redeeming oneself of past sins is performing the ‘Patet’ as it were... a fact not unknown to most Parsis (including me).
However to one of these friends it seemed highly inappropriate that I should affix such a day of ‘Patet’ (Repentance) with words such as ‘Happy’ or ‘Mubarak’, and she let me know her sentiments, in so many words.
As if in concurrence to her message, a particular post (1) by a Parsi blogger has been doing its rounds on Facebook. The blogger expresses his disdain towards well-wishers and friends, both Parsi and non-Parsi (with a stronger contempt for the former), who make him “cringe” every time they sound off ‘Happy Pateti’ or ‘Pateti Mubarak’ wishes. He draws an analogy to show what 'Pateti' has in common with ‘Good Friday’ (the Christian day of mourning) as well as 'Muharram' (the day of mourning among the followers of Islam), that is, “you do not wish someone on such a day”.
So in response to these messages and at the risk of seeming irreverent, I argue and question thus.
It seems as if in the blogger’s post the allusion to ‘Good Friday’ and ‘Muharram’ are means to justify his interpretation of ‘Pateti’. Clearly, they are days of mourning for the Christians and Muslims, respectively and justifiably so; ‘Good Friday’ being the day Jesus - ‘the son of God’ was crucified and ‘Muharram’ being the day the grandson of Prophet Mohammad was martyred in battle. How can they be equated to Pateti? What are we mourning about on 'Pateti'? It is surely a day of deliverance but not one of grief or loss. A poor analogy that!
In tandem with my earlier point, why should a day of repentance be a day of mourning? Should we not rather rejoice in the ‘Cleansing Act’ (Patet), knowing we are redeeming ourselves of our past transgressions and moving on to being better humans? Wishing someone ‘Happy Pateti’ is an act of celebration, a time for acknowledging our oneness as fallible humans, and thereby aspiring and encouraging one another towards the betterment of the self and the community/society as a whole. What can be more celebratory than the act of purging one’s self and moving on towards a better and brighter future!!
My final bone of contention is with the "religion-police" who completely disregard the possibility of an open or plural interpretation of religious tenets, rituals or beliefs. They overlook the fact that religion does not aim at an air-tight, singular ideology but rather it provides numerous possibilities to choose from, in order for us to lead a better and fulfilling life. And that gets reflected in the core Zoroastrian philosophy of “Humata, Hukta, Hvarasta” – Good Thoughts, Good words, Good Deeds!
So from my side I wish you, one and all, a Happy Pateti and a Happier New Year (YZ 1387)!!!
(1) http://eatsfeedsanddigs.blogspot.in/2017/08/my-name-is-pateti-and-i-am-no-ones-new.html
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