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Springtime brings us a wide variety of joyous and colorful celebrations in the cycle of sacred time. People do not realize that religions cannot only fill our lives and our years with stern limitations and restrictive rules, but that faith must also be fun.

The two weeks at the end of March and at the beginning of spring put us squarely in the middle of a spiritual grand slam of religious celebrations from Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam. They have different meanings, but they all have the same effect. These holiday festivals remind us that the meaning of Psalm 118:24 reaches into literally every faith, “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

What better time is there to remember this divinely sanctioned exuberance than springtime when nature is rejoicing with us.

Mardi Gras, March 4

Our season of letting go for God began with Mardi Gras which occurred on March 4. Mardi Gras, which is also known as Shrove Tuesday, falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", because it was the last day of consuming rich, fatty foods, like red meat, in preparation for the Christian fasting season of Lent, during which such foods are avoided. Of all the spiritual bacchanals in world religions, Mardi Gras is one of the most over the top, particularly as it is interpreted and acted out in New Orleans where “crews” of revelers decorate floats and toss beads and expose their … beads, Mardi Gras has become a national street party that extends far beyond Catholicism. However, behind it all is the need to balance fasting with feasting; limitations with licentiousness; rituals with release. A balanced spiritual life requires joy, and springtime is the perfect time to submit to joy and celebrate the good world God has given us to tend and to celebrate.

Holi, March 14

Holi is a joyous and massively colorful Hindu holiday always celebrated in the springtime. It is marked by children and adults playfully throwing colored powders on other celebrants and dancing around bonfires for two days. Like Purim for Judaism, Holi celebrates the victory of good over evil. In this case it is the victory of Vishnu over Hiranyakashipu (whose main sin, as I can figure it, was choosing a name that was way too long). Holi paints the entire Hindu world in bright colors and makes the world’s most colorful religion even more vibrant.

Purim, March 14

Purim begins on the evening of March 13 for Jews worldwide. Its story is contained in the Book of Esther in the Bible and it tells of the victory of the Jews of Persia over the evil plotting of the vizier Haman in the 4 th century BCE. Purim is celebrated by the exchange of food and sweets, as well as parades in which children dress up like the main characters and adults and kids sound noisemakers during the reading of the Book of Ester in the synagogue. This joyous absence of decorum on Purim is aided by a command to drink copiously. Underneath the frivolity there is the message that good can triumph over evil and that often it is women who are the agents of our liberation.

Eid al-Fitr, March 31

Joyous feasting in the Muslim world at sundown after a month of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan will celebrate the great fast and provide an opportunity to gather family and friends together for the major feast of the Muslim year. Unlike all the other springtime holidays, Ramadan “floats” throughout the year so although it is a springtime holiday this year, it is only passing through. The Eid feast is a primary family gathering and is accompanied by gifts to family and friends of sweets and special foods. New clothes are purchased in honor of the Eid and children are given gifts of money from the patriarch of the family. If you are invited to an Eid feast you have been accorded a great and yummy honor.

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)

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