Celebrations modified as places of worship reopen

Starting on Friday, Hindus across TT will celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi until September 20.

Traditionally, a clay murti of the Hindu deity Ganesh would be submerged in the sea and left to disintegrate on the final day of the celebrations. The ritual symbolises returning the deity to the earth.

But with beaches closed, secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) Vijay Maharaj said the ritual has been modified.

Maharaj told Newsday, “On the final day of the celebration, we’re supposed to take what we call a murti of a particular one of our manifestations of God, which is the elephant God called Ganesh.We take him to the sea, we melt him and put him back to the earth."But during covid 19 restrictions, he explained, "What we do, because of the mere fact that we cannot got to rivers and the sea, is make a smaller murti, which is around two feet (tall). On the compound of the temple, on the last day, we’ll get a basin and melt the murti in that basin.”

The SDMS’s modification of this year’s celebrations is just one way religious bodies are adjusting their practices under the current public health regulations.

Though places of worship were allowed to reopen on September 6, Maharaj said SDMS temples would not be reopened until Friday's celebrations.

“We’re cleaning up (temples) and so forth before this weekend.

“We’ll have the same (covid19) measure we had previously...there’ll be basins outside the temple with liquid soap, we’ll be sanitising, there’ll be thermometers and we’ll stick to the 25 per cent limit at each temple. When you come into the temple, you’ll have to keep your face masks on.”

While it’s not mandatory for pundits and worshippers, Maharaj called on people to get vaccinated. He said the SDMS has always supported people getting vaccinated.

“We’ve been making calls to forget about the anti-vaxxers and let’s all vaccinate…this has been our clarion call.

“My spiritual head has gone on television, he’s been in the newspapers and in advertisements encouraging people to vaccinate.”

Secretary of the Council of the Orisha Elders Neal Rawlins told Newsday worship sessions in the Orisha faith aren’t structured like those in Christian faiths.

So, Rawlins said it’s not so much a matter of preparation for services but rather ensuring that worshippers keep safe during different rituals.

He explained, “The Orisha community, like the other traditional religions, do things differently.

“So like where the Christian churches have a one-hour service, it doesn’t work so with us, we don’t do things in that format.

“It’s a whole different process, according to the different shrines and the activities at the shrine.”

However, Rawlins welcomes the reopening of places of worship as it would make such rituals easier, with members of the faith preparing for different celebrations in the coming months.

General secretary of the Anjuman Sunnat-Ul-Jamaat Association (ASJA) Rahimool Hosein sent Newsday a copy of the covid19 guidelines which were sent to all the association’s imams.

In the guidelines, imams are reminded to maintain physical distancing between worshippers, monitor the 25 per cent limit in each mosque and ensure worship sessions are kept to one hour.

Apart from the guidelines, Hosein told Newsday, “The social distancing between the mats (in the mosques) and the wearing of masks has always been in place from day one.”

Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (PCTT) the Rev Joy Evelyn Abdul-Mohan told Newsday that representatives from the group were meeting on Tuesday to wrap up discussions on the reopening of churches.

Abdul-Mohan said the PCTT will release its guidelines on Wednesday.