INTRODUCTION

Nostalgia has a long history but barely any scientific presence especially in the nostalgic
feeling during festival context. The question that arises here is what does nostalgia really
mean? So, nostalgia is longing for a particular time period. This research paper will include
and provide to you a historical overview of the construct. We discuss not only dictionary and
scholarly definitions of nostalgia, but we will also study the role of nostalgia in the human
psyche, we will understand how people of different age groups feel about the festivals and
even study the different aspects of festivals that evoke the feeling of nostalgia. My whole
thesis will be based on the correlation between Nostalgia and Festivals.
KEYWORDS: Nostalgia, Culture, Festivals, Tradition, Co relation
NOSTALGIA

Nostalgia is a feeling of longing for past. It is mostly a happy feeling but can be slightly sad
too. It can also be described as an emotional experience connected to the past.
However, there is growing evidence pointing towards the positive qualities of nostalgia. In
particular, you can use your nostalgic past to relive how you felt when you were young and
loved.
BRIEF HISTORY ON NOSTALGIA
The first literary treatment of longing was written around 800 B.C. Depicted Odysseus the
King (Wilson, 2020).Longing drove our hero forward despite three years of profound
misfortune. Longing for home, and love for family, and Loyalty and attachment to the
people was an act of nobility. In fact, Odysseus chose to return home by ship, despite her
seven years of service in the company of Gaga, the nymph her calypso and her promise of
immortality. this can be when a medical student at the University of Basel, Johannes Hofer
(1688/1934), revealed his thesis on longing. So, nostalgia is that the pain that one
experiences by their want to return home. Indeed, the yearning for a brand new home that
is not inheritable means: This new meaning has persisted for over 100 years. In the 19th
century, nostalgia was considered a peculiar medical disorder with symptoms such as
sadness, anxiety, weakness, loss of appetite, insomnia, and fever. One of his reasons for the
persistence of the negative name of nostalgia was its medicalization by Hofer (1688/1934)
and subsequent generations of physicians and psychiatrists (Batcho, 2013; Nikelly, 2004).
When the 2,800-year journey returned, the longing was home - to its original poetic
meaning.

MORE ABOUT NOSTALGIA

For many centuries, medical professionals have clung to seeing homesickness as a medical
condition requiring treatment. However, opinions on its mechanisms and typology, as well
as the demographics involved, have changed over the years. They suggest that
homesickness was combined with mental health problems such as separation anxiety, while
homesickness was associated with it idealized images from childhood or the happy past
times.
Such as nostalgia, and even homesickness - a signal that an individual is not able to adapt
to a brand new life, a new environment or to evolve to the realities of adult life? Or does it
also play a positive role in the human psyche?
Homesickness is no longer treated as an illness by doctors, but the phenomenon continues
to interest researchers.
According to the researchers, maximum individuals experienced
nostalgia whilst confronted with hard existence situations. This advised that casting their
minds returned to a happier or extra significant time helped individuals deal with the
uncertainties.
Nostalgia fulfils its three global psychological functions. It creates a positive impact,
maintains and enhances positive self-esteem, and acts as a reservoir of social
connections. In this study, nostalgia was typically manipulated by reminding
participants of normal nostalgic or autobiographical experiences.
Participants then performed the steps to capture the postulated function of nostalgia.
FESTIVALS
I would say India is a land of diversity. One way in which it makes us feel proud of it is the
number of festivals we enjoy. Festivals are the ideal occasions to take a break from stress
and create memorable times. It is also during the festivals people belonging to different
religions celebrate different festivals thus uniting the country. Festivals are very important
in one’s life to know the traditional values and customs of a nation. During these times,
people acquire new assets, enhancing the local economy. There is a need to review some
procedures, though, in order to prevent unnecessary environmental harm and disturbance
to the population at large.
BRIEF HISTORY ON FESTIVALS

Vedic scriptures and literature provide many references to festival celebrations.

These people celebrated many festivals just to pay respect to gods, rivers, trees,
mountains, the arrival of the monsoon, the end of winter or the first splendor of spring,
etc. It is mentioned in Valmiki Ramayan that Lord Rama was banished along with his wife
Sita and younger brother Lakshman over a period of 14 years at the urging of their
stepmother Kaikeyi. After 14 years of exile, Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman
returned to Ayodhya with great victory. Another example in the context of Lord Krishna and
the Mountain is available in Mahabharat. People in our ancient India expressed all
festive occasions with the words "Samaja" which means gathering. Today
we sometimes use the word 'mela', meaning beautiful, instead of 'samaja'. But over the
centuries, the festive traditions have been gradually preserved. Even today, festivals
are held symbolically to connect houses, villages and the wider outside world. Within the
home or place, festivals are held at the initiative of men and women with love, respect and
care.
MORE ABOUT FESTIVALS
In every festival, certain foods and sweets are carefully prepared during these
special days of the festival to be offered to deities and common people.
Many Indian holidays have their origins in different religions that intertwine social and
religious meaning and traditionally carry out socio-religious activities.
The main religious holidays are considered to be Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Eid al-
Fitr, etc., which are celebrated for unity, reconciliation, brotherhood, etc.
is predominantly associated with peace, courage, human commitment and
better harvests of various crops.
As an example, we can focus on the “Diwali” festival, which conveys a sacred sense of
integration between different groups in society. This social event
is celebrated worldwide as the "Festival of Lights".
Diwali is a joyful festival where people make many memories with their family, friends and
other relatives. It's a celebration of lights and laughter, fun and togetherness where
everyone is encouraged to set off firecrackers. Calling relatives and even
visiting those nearby was a fun thing almost everyone did during Diwali week. Those days
are now just a treasure. Diwali is mainly associated with the worship of Goddess Lakshmi
and Lord Ganesha, Diwali day also coincides with many other
different stories that surprise people which is why Diwali and nostalgia are said to be
synonymous.

NOSTALGIA DURING FESTIVALS

Now that we are well aware of what nostalgia is and how are Indian festivals important let
us look at an example. When I celebrated Diwali this year, it felt quite different, felt like
something is missing, it was not as much fun as it was last year. I had thoughts about who all
were there and what all I did, which made me happy and elated leading to positive thoughts
during the rest of the festival. During my primary research many people stated that they feel
most nostalgic during festivals it is because they feel that we celebrate festivals very
differently every year, same festival but in a different manner. So, festivals do have quite a
great impact when it comes to nostalgia. What triggers nostalgia the most is Familiar music,
smells, and other reminders of the past. Festivals are followed by many different cultures,
traditions and rituals. The rituals and traditions are fading away with time and festivals are
becoming more likely to be all related to fun and spending time with close relatives, family
and friends. While spending time with the loves ones we tend to create a lot of memories,
that we crave for when we are alone. Festivals and nostalgia are interlinked in a lot of
different ways.
India is glorified for having oldest culture and civilization. ‘Unity in diversity’ is exceedingly
highlighting its incredible rich culture and heritage. Celebration of festivals helps people to
live together with peace and harmony and inspire to be united in the diverse nature of
society such as multitude languages, different religions, castes and traditions. Celebrations
of festivals also carry the message of brotherhood, goodness, etiquette and morality.
Therefore, people welcome festivals to act as mood elevators and to bring happiness and
enthusiasm in their life. The pleasure of festivals equally touches the heart of all people
without having any discrimination on the basis of gender, caste, creed, religion and
geographical distribution. However, celebrations of festivals mean to share the message of
amusement, brotherhood, goodness, etiquette, dedication, reconciliation, untidiness in the
diverse nature of society and encouragement for maintaining peace and harmony. When
people celebrate festivals they create a lot of memories, have lots and lots of fun which they
keep as a treasure and they later feel nostalgic about how they celebrated the festival
before.
We tend to recall something special, specific and noteworthy that took place years ago. The
backdrop or the environment across the festival is comparable and every festival
brings its own flavour. That favour takes us back to reminiscence lane.
AGE-WISE CONCLUSION
13-19 Years
Nostalgia feels totally positive to them. No one in this age group said that nostalgia is
negative. They feel nostalgic about their childhood. Their mood right before and after
nostalgia hits is highly emotional but positive. The kind of emotions they feel when nostalgia
hits is happiness, love, laughter, etc. They overcome nostalgic thoughts by sharing them
with someone (either with friends or family). They feel that festivals are different but not
very different every year, they are full of fun, family gatherings, and happy emotions. Most
of them said that age maybe a factor that affects the way we celebrate festivals. Festivals
evoke the feeling of nostalgia because it is the time when we create a lot of memories and
meet different family members and friends. It is a time where we bond with our parents.
This age group also said that the power of nostalgia is quite high on festivals.
20 – 35 Years
Most people who belonged to this age group said that they feel either positive or have
mixed feelings when nostalgia hits. Festivals felt very different for this particular age group.
It is because prople in this age group are mostly the one`s who are away from home and not
everytime can travel back home to celebrate festivals, so they always feel nostalgic about
how they used to celebrate festivals with family, following all the rituals and traditions and
with all the fun. They feel different every year even because you are not at home so you are
celebrating these festivals with different people every year ehich brings in new traditions
and new activities.
35 - 50 Years
This age group mostly has mixed feelings of nostalgia. Positive and negative both had the
equal number of votes. They typically feel nostalgic about their adulthood and some part of
adolescence because it is the time where you come across different people and different
opportunities which lead to creating a lot of memories. Right before the nostalgia hit,
people of this age group have a neutral mood. But after the nostalgic feeling their mood
changes to either positive or negative. Everyone here experiences different emotions,
emotions like calm, happy, sad, intrigued, etc. The way they overcome nostalgic thoughts is
quite common. Most of them just make themselves busy. Age does play a big role in how we
celebrate festivals. This age group says that we celebrate festivals with a greater enthusiasm
when we are kids than when we grow up. Festivals evoke the feelings of nostalgia because
of the amount of fun and laughter they have had since childhood during the festivals they
now miss those days. Power of nostalgia is kind of neutral in this age group, not very high
whereas not very low too.
50 & above Years
They have a positive nostalgic feeling which makes them happy by remembering their past.
They typically feel nostalgic about their childhood but also adulthood. Someone also stated
that they feel nostalgic about their adolescence because it is the time where you come
across different people and opportunities which ultimately leads to creating memories. And
then I asked the person why don’t they feel nostalgic about their middle adulthood, they
stated that “it is kind of a period where you feel nostalgic rather than what you feel
nostalgic about”. Before nostalgia hits they often have a positive or neutral mood, whereas
when it is gone they end up landing in a neutral yet emotional state of mind. The most
prominent feeling for this age group was that they could go back in that time and relive it,
they don't wish to change it but just relive it the way it is. Overcoming nostalgic thoughts is
by sharing them with other and instead of overcoming and trying to ignore them, just by
trying to go through with them. Festivals feel different every year because of the increasing
responsibilities, leaving family members and above all physical strength. The preparation for
the festivals is the main time that evoke the feeling of nostalgia. the power of nostalgia is
very high in this age group. Maximum people of this age group said that they feel very
nostalgic during the festivals.

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