Festivals as a mirror of society

When festivals are celebrated in India, Ute Hüsken – a professor of South Asian studies – is often right there too, in the thick of things. As head of the Department of Cultural and Religious History of South Asia at Heidelberg University, Hüsken regularly visits India, where she also attends festivities as part of her field research. “Celebrations feature a particularly densely packed mix of religious and cultural ­elements,” she says, “so we can learn a lot about a society and its religious practices from them.” Through her research, Hüsken is helping shed more nuanced light on social, cultural and political dynamics in India today.

“So festivities even result in social structures being renegotiated.”

Hüsken’s studies reveal for example how Indian and German festival cultures differ. While celebrations in Germany often take place in the private sphere or are linked to a specific place or theme – such as the Oktoberfest, city or wine festivals – most festivities in India have religious connotations but are nonetheless open to those of other faiths. Hüsken explains that they can sometimes even blur the rigid boundaries between the castes, at least for the duration of the festival: “More than once I’ve seen the bearers of a deity’s statue, all of whom belong to a low caste, refuse to continue walking during a festive procession because they felt badly treated by members of a higher caste.” They would strike until their demands were met. “So festivities even result in social structures being renegotiated.”

From 2019 to 2023, Hüsken ran the “Cultures of Learning” project that formed part of the DAAD’s A New Passage to India programme. The project gave students the chance to attend winter schools in India – an experience they found very enriching. There is just one change she’d like to see for future winter schools: “To date, they have only been open to German students. Indian students – of which we have very large numbers of in Heidelberg – were not eligible for funding. It would be nice if we could all conduct research and celebrate together in India in future.” —