FESTIVALS AS THE MYTHICAL LANGUAGE OF SELF-TRANSFORMATIVE HISTORY

Abstract

The above title represents and is a thesis. In academic circles, which deal with hypotheses, proof is a methodological law and necessity. Academics, therefore, expect and demand proofs for every thesis as well. But not every thesis needs a proof. Nor can theses be proved in a strict logical sense, because most theses are statements of facts. After all, facts cannot be proved any further. They can only be shown or demonstrated as facts for observers to see and hear for themselves. The above thesis is one such a statement of facts. Therefore, I do not attempt to prove it. Instead, I simply point to experience and call upon the reader to see it for himself or herself by looking into his or her own experience of participation in the festivals of his or her own community, even as I do by looking into myself, in my participation in one major festival celebration of my community. In this process, I try also to clarify the different concepts, which are being employed in this discourse.