Halloween Stories.

ROLCAM · Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:13 am Post subject: Halloween Stories.

Halloween Stories

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SHRADH

Surinder Jandu

There is a particular period of fifteen days in September/November every year called Shradh. This period falls on different dates according to lunar months. This period comes before Dushehra (When the victory of good over evil is celebrated by burning the puppets of evil people) and Diwali (When candles and divas are lit up to welcome the arrival of brave winners)

During Shradh period, it is believed that the souls of dead people return to their previous homes. People feed the hungry and give water to thirsty during this period believing this helps their loved ones and they don’t return hungry and thirsty from their homes. Some people throw buckets of water around their homes every morning to quench the thirst of these souls.

When I was young, my mum used to prepare several dishes of food which my grandfather and great-grand-father used to like, with great affection on the tenth day of Shrad. People can chose the day from these fifteen days to remember their dead loved ones. My mum would send my dad with one tray of several dishes, including the sweet rice pudding to our local Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) and another tray of food to a Brahman’s house. A Brahman is a Hindu priest who preaches in Hindu temples.

I asked my mum one day, “Mum, why don’t you send both trays to one place, either at the Gurdwara or the Brahman’s house?”)

“My dear child, your grandfather did not believe in Brahmans, but your great-grandfather did. I am sending the food at the right places where it will reach both.” She said.

She also told me a story. “These souls always look forward to the Shradh period so that they would visit their loved ones and have their favourite food and clothes.”

Once all the souls came to the village together talking to one another about what food they expected.

When they were going back, there were some souls looking very sad and disappointed, while other soul were happily talking about the brilliant feasts they had.

One soul asked the other, “Why are you so sad, you have had the chance to visit the family once after a year and still not happy?”

The other soul said, “I am returning hungry and thirsty. My family does not remember me at all.”

All the souls consoled him and said, “Don’t worry, you can come with us next year and you will never return hungry.”

“So this is the reason why I prepare lots of food in case any friends of your grandfather or great-grandfather also came along.” She explained.

“What about my grandmother and great-grandmother? Aren’t you giving food to them?” I asked.

“Yes of course I do. Your grandfather and great-grandfather would not leave them behind. They all come together.” She assured me.

I think my female ancestors also brought their female friends along with them in case their families forgot them.

These days, people do a lot for poor people and charity. They give out food and clothes to the poor and invite friends and relatives to religious places where they pray for souls of deceased people as well as enjoy the good food.

On Diwali and other special occasions, people put lighted candles and oil lamps at the religious places as well as grave yards to remember their loved ones.

People tend to forget evil people’s souls thinking they might harm them. They think they had turned into ghosts—bad ghosts called Bhoot (male ghost) and Chudel (female ghost). These Bhoot Chudel did not find peace in the other world, it is believed.

Surinder Jandu

surinderjandu@hotmail.com

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CHUDEL (THE FEMALE GHOST)

Surinder Jandu

When I was a small girl, there was a big hoo- haa in our village. Lots of people saw a female ghost when they past the village grave yard. They ran shouting “Chdel---chudel---chudel---please save me from chudel.”

The villagers could not ignore this because she was doing much harm and scaring them to death. She would attack the passers by and kill them. She would chase them until the village boundaries and stop, but if they went the opposite direction, she would keep chasing them or kill them. Some escaped to tell their horror stories. They described her as tall with scruffy black hair which waved around with her head moving round and round in all directions. She was said to have had her feet towards the back and horrible teeth and nails. People killed by her had frightening expressions on their faces with open mouths and wide open horrible eyes. They all had blue marks on their bodies. Villagers stopped using that road altogether but some strangers visiting the village would be killed.

Once the animals were grazing near the grave yard and one cow went to drink water at the well near by. This Chudel picked the cow up, twisted her neck and threw it in the well. The boy who was tending the animals witnessed this in horror and ran to the village screaming his head off, Chdel—chudel---chudel. The villagers took a priest along with them and visited the well with the dead cow inside. They took the dead cow out of the well and also saw this female ghost walking around at a distance and starring at them.

People of the village were really scared and thought she might enter the village and harm people. They called the village Panchayt (Group of nominated villagers to make decisions) and invited the whole village to gather at one place. Every one was asked whether they knew of any suspicious circumstances or anything about the female who was seen there to get to the root of it.

Slowly people started talking and pointed at one family that their daughter disappeared suddenly. Then the Panchayet questioned about their daughter’s whereabouts and that she was not seen in the village for sometime. The parents said that she had gone to live with her maternal uncle and was studying there. The Panchayt ordered them to call her back and they wanted to talk to her, but after waiting for months, they called the parents again.

The parents finally admitted she was dead and told the story like this.

“We had no alternatives your honour. Our daughter Preety was pregnant at the age of fifteen and she was not telling us anything about the boy who was responsible for her pregnancy. We tried our best to ask with love at first but then by hitting her. She just refused to open her mouth. She took all the beatings but would not die. At the end we forced her to drink poison and she died.”

“You know your honour that if she lived, we would have bad name in the society. We were ashamed to own her as our daughter who dishonoured us in the village. We had no other option. No body would have married her as a degraded woman”

“If she had told us about the father of the child, we could have talked to him about marrying her but she refused to name him”

“She wouldn’t agree to the abortion and it was full pregnancy anyway.”

“We have no idea at all how she became pregnant as she hardly went out of the house. We have no idea if she was raped or anything. She never went out without telling us. She was very intelligent and kept herself to herself.”

“She had no friends and was not seen with anyone.”

“When she was dead, we knew we had to take precautions how she was cremated, because she was pregnant. We knew the souls of pregnant women never rest in peace and they return home. We called a man who knew black magic from the next village.”

The Panchyat and the villagers listened with horror as the story was unfolding

“The man with black magic advised us to wait for the night to fall before cremating her body and he prepared his magic spells. He said that the girl was pregnant and she would definitely return to the village to take revenge. He advised us to take the girl to the grave yard in the middle of the night. We wrapped her body in a sack and as the body was taken in the cart pulled by bulls, the man was digging big nails in the ground behind her. He said this would prevent her returning to the village. Even if she tried to return, these nails would hurt her feet and keep her away.”

No one asked them whether or not they were telling the truth. They understood that one thing was sure that the Chudel never entered the village.

The parents were crying when they said how they threw all her belongings away and thoroughly cleaned the house.

“We have been crying inside since then, the way our dear daughter had to leave this world.”

The father cried loudly when he showed his both hands to the Panchyat and said, “I have killed my dear daughter with these hands. These hands took her life away. Please punish me. I have never slept in peace since then. I deserve punishment.”

When the neighbours asked about our daughter, they were told she had gone to her maternal uncle to study.

“We had no other option your honour.”

The parents were then punished for their crime of murdering their own daughter and after a while, the ghost disappeared from the scene. It seemed that her soul was at peace after taking revenge from her killers.

Surinder Jandu

surinderjandu@hotmail.com
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Roland Camilleri

Moderator

Sydney , Australia.