Folk ritual traditions have long been of interest to anthropologists and ethnographers. Ralph W. Nicholas, William Rainey Harper Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, has given us an interesting and well-written description and analysis of a ritual that is central to the folk life of Bengal. Gājan is a ritual that ends the old year and the desiccation and crushing heat of the pre-monsoon season and ushers in the rebirth of the new year.
Nicholas's description of Gājan as he observed it in 1969 is an important contribution to the study of South Asian ritual. Gājan “aims to bring back fertility, all kinds of fertility—in the fields, in the waters and in families” (p. 1). Thus, its goals are a combination of fertility, prosperity, and auspiciousness, as is common to many spring rituals. What makes Gājan different is that it is almost exclusively...
