Though Christians are a minority in India, Christianity has a long history there, according to tradition going back to St. Thomas the Apostle. Catholicism is about 1.55% of the total population.
From Wikipedia: "There are 174 dioceses in India organised into 30 provinces. Of these, 132 are Latin Catholic Church, 31 Syro-Malabar Church, and 11 Malankara Syrian Catholic Church dioceses. Despite the small percentage, India has the second largest Catholic population in Asia after the Philippines, due to India's huge population."
The Latin rite was brought by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century.
Many Protestant denominations are represented in India, the result of missionary activities throughout the country especially under British rule.
Of course we are all familiar with Mother Teresa's (now St. Teresa of Calcutta) Missionaries of Charity, and their work in India and around the world.
The dominant religion in India is of course Hindu. Deepavali is a Hindu festival, though it is also a national holiday that lasts four or five days, and is celebrated even by those who are not Hindu.
My boss for five years was a man from India. He is a cultural Hindu, though he is married to a Catholic and is basically secular. My understanding from him was that many Christians did celebrate Deepavali, similar to how many "nones" here have Christmas trees and exchange gifts. And none of them turn down a holiday from work.
During Deepavali, Indian families engage in family feasts, wear festive clothing, and decorate their homes with lights. Fireworks are also traditional.
Katherine, thanks for this post. In my work, about half my coworkers are from India, and a surprisingly large number of the Americans with whom I work are immigrants from India. (And some of those based in India would like to immigrate to the US, although for some reason, that desire has cooled since 2016.)
ReplyDeleteEveryone based in India is taking this week off. Most of the Indians from my team are from the north (Delhi area), so they all refer to it as Diwali. India also is one of the largest Muslim countries in the world, with something like 200 million Muslims (which is still only about 15% of its overall population), and a fair amount of my Indian co-workers are Muslim. But they all celebrate Diwali, at least insofar as they take the week off from work. :-) Delhi is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, but all of my coworkers either personally come from, or have families rooted, in other, usually more rural, areas. They all travel to the regions of their families for at least part of this week.
Jim, that's interesting that you have so many Indian coworkers. How do you find them to work with? I suppose everyone is different, like the rest of us. My former boss is a natural diplomat. His professional credentials were that he is an electrical engineer. I worked with a lot of those guys ( only one woman engineer) over the years, and their people skills aren't always their strong suit. I was impressed that when our former boss left our department to take another position in the company, he sent all of us a handwritten note saying how much he had enjoyed working with us, and wishing us good luck in the future. He was from the Hyderabad area, though now is an American citizen.
DeleteThat's neat that you got to visit India, though it would have been a little nervous during a time of unrest. Was your wife able to go also?
I should clarify that the engineers with the weak people skills were all native born Americans.
DeleteHi Katherine - our company has grown by a series of acquisitions, so our Indian employees come to us mostly by our acquiring other companies. And of course we recruit in India just like we do in other geographies - we hire some "fresh-outs" from school, we hire from our competitors, etc.
DeleteIn my particular field (project/portfolio mgmt), good communication and people skills are required. It's kind of a fallacy, in my experience, that engineers lack people skills; some are very good at it, some less good at it, just like most of the rest of us. The really talented ones can make complicated technical concepts like network routing understandable to non-techies like me.
I've probably mentioned this before: I find it easier to understand the English of the Indians with whom I work than the English of coworkers from England and Ireland.
DeleteI'm a former Dell employee. Dell received a public-perception black eye some 15-20 years ago when it moved its customer support service centers offshore ("moving", in this case, being a euphemism for "closing in the US, opening in India"). Many American customers complained that they couldn't understand the Indian customer service agents. To be candid, I really think that xenophobia and/or racism was driving at least part of that reaction. In response, Dell made a big show of restoring US-based customer service centers - a decision that, in retrospect, amounted to trying to halt the incoming tide.
I didn't find it hard to understand Indian English. The Indian people I have known pronounce it a bit Britishly. Rather BBC English than regional. My boss' first language was Telegu, but he also spoke Hindi. He said both were derived from Sanskrit. He said English is also taught in the schools.
DeleteYes - every person I've known from India speaks several languages. Depending on where they're from, the mix of languages they have differs from one person to the next (it seems every major city in India has its own native language, and there are 200+ languages spoken across the country), but somehow they all manage to communicate with one another.
DeleteIn addition to the English instruction they receive in school, those who work with Americans or other English speakers do what people all over the world do to get better at English: they watch a lot of American television. Somehow it doesn't make them as dumb as it apparently has made us.
On a more churchy note, it may be worth pointing out that among the countries that are full members of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), the multinational commission responsible for translating liturgical texts into English (when Rome lets it do its job), is India. So for liturgical purposes, India is considered one of the English countries, as are Pakistan and the Philippines. (There also are associate members of the commission, which includes a number of African and Pacific countries.)
DeleteI'd have assumed that the liturgical texts also have been translated into Hindi, and other Indian languages as well, but this article, which admittedly is from 2003, suggests that worship isn't as inculturated in India as I would have expected.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/indian-catholics-propose-to-include-sanskrit-in-prayers.html
There are more Latin Rite Catholics on India than the Syro Malabar rite, which is also united with Rome. But I understand that it is more of an eastern rite, and the liturgy is related to the Liturgy of Addai and Mari (of Coptic origins) that Rita Ferrone wrote about awhile back.
DeleteHappy Diwali to you, too. I used to have roaring arguments with one of our former pastors because St. Thomas got all the way to India while Paul was canoeing around the little Mediterranean with his publicist, Luke. The Syro-Malabar rite claims direct descent from Thomas the Apostle, and it is a fact that when European missionaries finally got there in the 14th Century, there were Catholic churches to greet them. Our pastor kept preaching that Paul was a great evangelist; I kept saying he never went anywhere nearly as far as India. Now I have an Indian pastor, and he told me (are you ready?): "Some think that was a different Thomas."
ReplyDelete(If you Google the Syro-Malabar timeline it begins with the Apostle Thomas arriving in 52 AD. So: An Indian pastor? Or Google?)
I'd say there's a good deal more evidence for Thomas the Apostle having gone to India than the story that Joseph of Arimathea and Mary Magdalene went to Glastonbury, England.
DeleteThere is, indeed. And more evidence than Blake had that young Jesus went to England with Uncle Lazarus, the merchant trader, when Blake wrote Jerusalem. But the song is pretty good, anyway. Sometimes there is value in squinting and pretending you see it.
DeleteTom, I always liked "Jerusalem";
Delete"And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy lamb of god
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?"
People will always speculate, what did Jesus do between the Finding in the Temple and his public ministry? And what did he do between the Resurrection and the Ascension?
I love that beautiful hymn. Very Laudato Si. Charming story.
DeleteOne of the women in our cancer group was a Hindu named for this festival. She underwent a grueling stem cell transplant procedure that was not successful. She posted videos for us every few days. We watched her hair fall out, we saw her lose frightening amounts of weight, we saw her improve, we saw her hair grow back, we saw her eating real food, we saw her back in the hospital where she died of pneumonia. She never sugar-coated what was going on. She enlightened all of us about what stem cell transplant entailed and did more than any doctor or statistical table to help us make our own decisions about end-stage treatment. And every single video ended with a radiant smile, "God is good," and a thank you to all of us. Such a grace-filled and brave woman.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about your friend. My late brother-in-law
Deletehad a stem cell transplant. It was allogenic, because there was no family match. It was through the donor registry, and ended up being from the UK. The family was touched that a stranger would be a donor in an attempt to save his life, because the process is no walk in the park for the donor.
Yeah, someone who has actually been through a transplant would be more help than a doctor as far as decision-making.
Just noticed my error, it still would have been allogenic from a family member. Autologous would have been one's own stem cells which had been harvested.
DeleteHer sister wrote this for us, which was blessedly free from the "fallen warrior" verbiage ("she lost her valiant battle with leukemia") we cancer patients hear far too often:
DeleteHer name meant "candlelight," and one point of light can spark thousands without losing its own brightness. The original flame may be gone, but she will live on in all those she's known and touched.
Jean, I wish there were a "like" button here, because I wanted to use it on your comment.
DeleteWasn't that a lovely thought? It also made us all feel that, despite illness, we can still matter to others. That is so important to hear some days.
DeleteNice post.
ReplyDeleteAre you looking for the Diwali party? We bring you the virtual Diwali celebration party, in which you can enjoy Deepavali special activities and games with your remote colleagues. These festival celebration events also help in boosting team bonding among colleagues.
Informative Article! Get creative ideas for your Diwali Celebration on SOS. Here are 7 ideas to make your Corporate Diwali celebration fun-filled and memorable for a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteDiwali festive celebration events at the office are important for the team members. Collective celebrations will help to improve a sense of togetherness in employees, boost employees morale, improve team spirit, and develop happiness in an office environment. With diwali competition ideas for office, office employee can participate and celebrate Deepavali with the colleagues.
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