The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1915-12-31

Year days and this is so be-
S&xXS cause OF the large number OF
races and religions
When a traveller who expects to
spend some time in the country goes
10 the bank with his letter OF credit,
usually a card is handed him on which
Is printed the various holidays, This
Is for his convenience, so that he
will not let himself get out of funds
and go to the bank in hurry, only
to find it closed on account OF some
holiday. The holiday may be Chris
tian, Mohammedan or that OF any one
Of the numerous Hindu sects.
When the usual card was given me
IN Bombay says a writer, | noted the
number of these holidays which were
ascribed to New Year. They did not
exactly bear out the humorous de-
scription of every day in the year as
a New Year day, but there seemed
hardly a month of the Christian calen'
dar which did not have at least one
New Year designated. and in some
months there were more.
Kaleidoscope Bombay observes all
these New Year days because the
stream Of Asiatic life which circulates
through it includes all the civilization
and all the races and religions OF the
Orient. with some additions from the
Occident The spirit is one OF cath
olicity.
All the races and all the religious
seCts observe the New Year OF the
Christian calendar, because British
rule of India is reflected in this day;
but they also observe the New Year OF
the different races and religions
among themselves, at least to the eX-
tent of knocking off work.
Whether in Bombay or Benares, the
monkey temple has its thrOng Of Hin
du worshipers, and the Mohamme-
lans often are not unwilling to share
in the observance to the extent of
foregoing their business activities.
The Htndus on their part are apt to
think it a shame to work on Moham.
medan New Year day when the Mos
lem population may be thronging the
Jumma Musquid mosque. So it goes
oil round the circle of New Year holi-
days
There is a simple arithmetiCal meth
cd Of calculating the time from the
Hegira in the terms of the Christian
era, but the easier way is to accept
without question the fact that such
and such a day is the New Year of
the Mohammedan era Similarly, the
New Year of the Buddhists and the
Brahmins and the jams and the Sikhs
may be accepted without bothering
about the calendar.
The British New Year in Bombay,
or Calcutta, or Delhi is much the
same as in England.
While the Christian New Year is
formal and stately on account of Brit
fish authority, it has less standing than
the New Year of the Parsees, because
Il is a single days observance, while
the Parsees take two days. The year
l happened to be in Bombay was the
Parsee Yazdezardi, 1876, and the New
Year days came on September l3 and
H.
On this day l was afforded the oD-
portunity of witnessing the Parsee re-
ligious observanCes, or ZOroastrian
services. 1t was in the Allbess Bagh,
on the Charm road Their churches
CT temples of worship are free from
architectural pretensions without and
within. They are more like an ordi-
nary hall.
In this temple the women were gath
cred at one end of the room and the
men at the other end. In the space
between was a stand holding lamp
with the eternal fire under glass. The