The Jamaica Bay plays a major role in the lives of New Yorkers, with its rich resources, its large biodiversity and, surprisingly, its spiritual significance to different religious groups. I was surprised to learn that the Jamaica Bay serves a place of religious congregations for many groups, such as Jew and Hindus. Being a practicing Hindu, I was never aware of the significance the Bay had to the Hindu community and was surprised to find that many rituals are performed at this Bay. Furthermore, though I am aware of the rituals and the significance of water in Hinduism as mentioned in the paper, I always had the notion that these rituals would be performed in a temple or a place that was deemed “holy.” For this reason, I find the use of the Bay as place of worship to be very surprising.
The use of the Jamaica Bay as a religious hotspot is of great cultural significance and presents the diversity of the region as well. The use of the waters in Jamaica Bay provides insight into the Hindu Indo-Caribbean culture that has populated the area around the Bay. With ancestors originally from India, the Indo-Caribbean culture resembles Asian Indian culture in many ways but with the passing of years many changes have been made. The Indo-Caribbean belief is that the Jamaica Bay is similar to the Ganges in India and by submerging the ashes of their deceased ones into the Bay it will eventually reach Mother Ganga. This is different from Asian Hindu practices, which only considers the Ganges as holy water and stresses the importance of submerging the ashes into the Ganges. Similarly, the Jewish community use the water on certain holidays in which they cleanse themselves of their sins by throwing breadcrumbs into the water. The land also has a cultural significance as the willows by the Bay and bonfires are lit for certain holidays.
While to Jews and Hindus, these religious practices are part of culture and the scriptures, some community members see this as pollution of the water as debris from the rituals tend to wash up on shore. Pollution can affect the wildlife in the waters and well as the ones on land. However, I find this ironic to a certain sense in that from my knowledge of Hindu customs, many of the puja items are organic as well as biodegradable. This is because Hindus stress the importance of nature and preserving wildlife, therefore many of the items come from nature, aside from the vessels and possibly the wrappings used to hold these items.
These practices and uses of Jamaica Bay stem from using one’s own culture knowledge to adapt to the new environment and community and congregate with his/her community to make decisions about how one should proceed to live their life in a new land. The new populations in Jamaica Bay have combined in collaboration to accommodate the needs of certain communities and make decisions that protect the Bay. Jamaica Bay and its resources are integral to the success of the surrounding communities and we need the see for compromise and combined effort to protect these resources.
