Do you remember how you celebrated Diwali in childhood – when morning begin with smell of delicious food and sweets, with your father running around for bringing garlands, flowers and diyas for decoration, your mother busy cleaning and cooking, and you were busy thinking about new clothes, you couldn’t wait to burst crackers with you friends and scare your mother with bomb in hand – Do you miss that? Most of us today are busy in our lives with jobs, studies, businesses, etc and are living away from home, and by now we have realised that once we leave home as adults, there is no returning to home. Perhaps for the holiday, but overall, there is no going back.
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Festivals Trigger Nostalgia: Acting as a Reminder of the Memory
Have you ever walked past a sweet shop, and a smell has reminded you of your childhood, a winter noon of winter vacation, and your mother is making gajar ka halwa, and you are waiting with a spoon in your mouth, Nostalgia. The limbic system is responsible for storage and analysis of memory (hippocampus), feeling of emotion (amygdala) and hence combining the two roles, emotional memory or memory associated with emotion.
Nostalgia begins with external triggers that activate the hippocampus and amygdala. The external triggers could be a familiar scent, music, taste, etc. These shift our attention to the memory and, hence, selectively retrieve the emotions associated with the memory. This is followed by the activation of neurons that are responsible for the release of dopamine into the brain. Dopamine is responsible for the sense of pleasure.
Similar experience can occur when an individual comes across the music from their culture, like folk music, traditional songs. Experts often theorise that music from the adolescent period of one’s life is strongly associated with emotional memories (Janta, 2009). Researchers in past have connected music-triggered nostalgia with increased activity in the prefrontal cortex. Retrieval of autobiographical memory activates the prefrontal area of the brain(Janta, 2009). As compared to these, scent seems to elicit a stronger sense of nostalgia, as well as a more positive and emotional episode( Reid, 2015).
People often tend to make traditional dishes, listen to traditional music during the time of the festival, which could generate positive feelings; however, often these positive feelings are followed by feelings of loneliness. Researches show that these memories related to festivals are also engraved in the brain as emotional memory, hence these memories are more vivid than regular memories.
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Festivals make us feel United: Strengthening the Sense of Collective Identity
Émile Durkheim coined the term Collective effervescence that describes an intense, shared emotional feeling. It is a sense of unity people feel in large groups, generating a feeling of belonging and assimilation. Festivals are major events in Asian society; they are also major events that promote socialisation. They create a feeling of being connected, strengthening social bonds.
They reinforce collective identity, values, and norms, hence recharging society’s moral energy. Celebrating festivals far away from the family can cause an individual to lose these collective beliefs, leading to a belongingness crisis. An individual might feel that they are losing their cultural identity. This can also contribute mildly to an identity crisis. The COVID-19 era saw a rise in the trend of attending events, functions, and festival rituals online through video chats.
Many of us have celebrated festivals like Raksha Bandhan, Bahi dooj, Karwachauth, etc, online during the event. Many of us even attended weddings online. Some of us had to get married online during the time of COVID. However, A 2024 study published in the European Journal of Public Health suggested that even though technology helps us attend festivals via video calls, it might also amplify loneliness. Individuals observing their family celebrating festivals often lead to a feeling, ‘I could be with them. Why am I stuck here?’
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Social Expectations VS Self fulfillment
It would not be wrong if we call India as land of entrance exams and festivals. We all have faced one or the other entrance exam in our lives, whether it is for college or for a job. Students preparing for entrance exams like NEET, JEE, CAT, NET, UPSC, CTET, GATE, etc, often deal with a dilemma – whether to enjoy the festival or spend their day studying and preparing for their aim.
These students often face a choice whether to go home and compromising with preparation or to stay away from home and perfect their skills. A similar pattern could be observed in working professionals. Feeling to be with family and friends at the time of the festival often collides with social expectations of being hard-working and successful. This is commonly known as Cognitive Dissonance (Leon Festinger, 1962). This feeling of being trapped often creates anxiety.
The condition is harsher for those living in foreign lands, as a lack of celebration in the environment often collides with their internal expectations. In one’s own land, the festival is not limited to the family; it is in the environment: the shops, the roads, the music, the decoration, constant wishes and interactions, continuous work and food. While in a foreign land, there is no such positioning. An individual has to create the whole energy on their own, which often leaves an individual feeling isolated and lonely.
Social Media: The Fuel to Fire
Social media acts as fuel to the fire of FOMO. A series of pictures, reels, and videos about the festival and the celebration often leads to a feeling of missing out. Imagine various influencers, celebrities, your friends, and family members posting on their social media. They are updating about your cultural festival tomorrow. Meanwhile, you are alone, rotting in bed. The only thing you will be doing tomorrow is waking up and following your routine. The only special dish you will be having will be ordered online. You would be feeling left out.
Read More: The Psychology Behind FOMO
Conclusion
Research shows that being away from family often leads to a mismatch between our environment and our memories. Often, this mismatch can be reduced by using micro rituals. These include using lights to celebrate Diwali. They also include playing familiar music on Chhath Puja. Visiting a temple on Durga Puja is another example. This can help regulate cortisol and reduce the feeling of FOMO. Using video calls to stay connected to family can help with feelings of loneliness.
However, celebration away from family is not always about the feeling of being left out. It is also about psychological resilience. It reflects the idea that home is something that represents one’s deepest self. This remains true even if one is far away from physical home.
References +
Petr Janata, The Neural Architecture of Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 19, Issue 11, November 2009, Pages 2579–2594.https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhp008
Xygalatas D, Konvalinka I, Bulbulia J, Roepstorff A. Quantifying collective effervescence: Heart-rate dynamics at a fire-walking ritual. Commun Integr Biol. 2011 Nov 1;4(6):735-8. doi: 10.4161/cib.17609. PMID: 22446541; PMCID: PMC3306345.
Reid, C.A., Green, J.D., Wildschut, Tim and Sedikides, Constantine (2015). Scent-evoked nostalgia. Memory, 23 (2), 157-166. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2013.876048
Cognitive Dissonance on JSTOR https://share.google/9HK2NX8JtiHaJkVFw https://slate.com/technology/2014/08/musical-nostalgia-the-psychology-and-neuroscience for-song-preference-and-the-reminiscence-bump.html
