Arrival at Fermynwoods

The day I had come it was raining. I could not see the sun, the source of light and life. When the sun came out the next morning, so did the opportunity to think its presence.
Here began a ritual. Rituals play a key role in our lives. They give structure. They shape our days, our months, and our years. They serve as milestones and help us go through life in an orderly way. Rituals make us believe that we are part of a plan, that life is not random, that all things have a meaning.
Unlike stories that need to be heard, and symbols that need to be seen, rituals are communications that need to be performed.

Haldi/turmeric, Kumkum and rice
Yellow, red and white
The first ritual done in all religious ceremonies
This would also be an idyllic way of welcoming a guest or long returned relative. It is primarily a greeting, a way of welcoming.
The process, Haldi is applied to the forehead of the guest on the spot of the third eye. It is followed by the application of Kumkum and finally rice grains. Haldi and Kumkum would be made into a paste ideally using water from the Ganges, water considered holy and pure.
…
Haldi/turmeric, Kumkum and rice are chosen for their symbolic meanings.
· Yellow (turmeric) is virile a colour, colour of the sun, spreading across the sky and reaching out to the earth. The sprinkling is to invoke the grace and power of what is being worshipped. Turmeric is an antiseptic, destroying the germs as gods destroy the demons.
· Red is the colour of potential energy. Virgin goddesses are draped in a red saree. Red invokes a sense of the fertile land before the rains holding the promise of crops.
· Rice being the food sustains life; the final output that rises out of the earth and is warmed by the sun.

· Turmeric first to remove any negative energy between us
· Kumkum, red to instigate potential energy
· Rice as an ode to the beginning of a dialogue
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Sun, Earth and Food
Here the food for me the residency that had started a, space where there were going to be two cultures interacting, coming together and maybe co-existing.

This would be how a devotee connects with the deity and divine grace.
The selection of a leaf for me was representative of the space that I was going to inhabit and the dialogue that was going to take place.
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Dialogue
Me<> trees, space, cottages, woods, the complete woods, the county
Stories from India <> stories from England/Northamptonshire
Rituals there<> rituals here
Words and their meaning<> words and their meaning

Since I was the one coming to an already existing space I should have the one getting smeared with Haldi/turmeric, Kumkum and rice. However the woods, the trees, the space were as new to me as I was to them and therefore I decided to initiate a dialogue. At this point of time I wasn’t aware of what tree this was. However it reminded me of many trees that have similar leaf structure and hence it felt most familiar. The smearing of the Indian red was my way of welcoming myself into the space of the woods. It was a record of the greeting.

Factual reference: www.devdutt.com