The selected chapters from Jamaica Bay Ethnographic Overview and Assessment by William Kornblum and Kristen Van Hooreweghe highlights Jamaica Bay’s centrality to many religious and cultural rituals. Before delving into the cultural and religious connection, an overview of the demographic, economic, and educational history of the area is made. I learned that immigration is a big factor in the area, as the 2008 census notes that 40 percent of the residents in the watershed area were immigrants. It was also brought to my attention the high levels of educational attainment that exist in the area. However, I was most highly intrigued and fascinated to learn about the various religious rituals that are performed along Jamaica Bay.
The Hindu population in the area plays a dominating role in this phenomenon. As water is viewed as a primordial spiritual symbol, “ayana of nara” (124), as is noted in chapter 5, water is used as a vessel in many Hindu religious practices. For instance, it is essential in cremation ceremonies as this is a way of returning the deceased being to the elements of earth from which he/she was created. Hinduism also places a major focus on attaining purity, thus the water in the bay is used to cleanse individuals both spiritually and physically. The conflict between culture and science arises in Hindu people’s regular prayer services and religious rituals known as pujas, where the offerings are then placed in the water. The offerings consist of rice, cloth, flowers, fruits, and statues, amongst others. These offerings end up washing up on the shore, as they then pose a threat to the ecological and environmental health of the area. Thus, NPS officials have launched initiatives to educate the Hindu public about the do’s and don’ts of leaving offerings behind on the beach. NPS officials visit local temples to inform community members of the park’s rules and regulations. This represents a major conflict to the Hindu devotees as they interpret their scripture as necessitating the leaving of these offerings in the natural flowing bodies of water. However, religious leaders in the community are taking in active role to amend this issue as they are working together with NPS to stop the pollution in the area. In fact, religious rules have been amended, allowing for individuals to dip the offerings in the water seven times and then bury it in the ground or give it to charity. This represents a major progress in the movement to reconcile the growing conflict between culture and science in the area.
The reading that dealt with the connection of Jewish rituals to the water in the Jamaica Bay area related to me most as I have been involved with many of the religious rituals mentioned. For instance, the practice of Taschlikh is something that I do with my family in the time period between Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot. The ceremony requires us to sprinkle pieces of bread into a body of water containing fish, while reciting a blessing. This is a way of absolving ourselves of the sins committed in the prior year. Having this religious ritual in mind as I did the reading, I was able to relate to the Hindu culture, despite its great disparities to my own. I understood the conflict that the Hindus faced as they were told to forgo a fundamental aspect of their highly valued pujas. I wondered what I would do if I were told one year that Jews were now not to throw bread crumbs in the water, but rather symbolically throw them in. Would I feel like my religious observance was complete in that ritual? If I were told of a new discovered harm that this posed on the fresh ecosystem of the water source, would I forgo my indigenous knowledge ebbing me to release the breadcrumbs, or rather amend it to meet the newly changed circumstance? All this thought into the conflict between culture and land management policy got me into researching whether Taschlikh truly did harm or pollute the environment in any way. I came to find that white bread was in actuality harmful to the fish and ducks that typically inhabit the Sheepshead Bay area where I perform the ritual. That really got me thinking. When next September rolled around, would I allow this newfound challenge to my indigenous knowledge alter this religious ritual. And to what extent? Essentially, through this reflection, I was able to fully grapple with the notion of scientific conflict to indigenous knowledge and well-established cultural rituals.