The chapters from Jamaica Bay Ethnographic Overview and Assessment by William Kornblum and Kristen Van Hooreweghe talked about the Jamaica Bay area and its social and religious importance.

The interesting part of the reading was the large role the Bay had in the religion of many of its residents. The Hindu residents use the river for cleansing themselves and for reaching a level of spiritual purity. This is essentially similar to the Ganges River that is located in India. In the Ganges river, thousands of Hindu indians bathe in the river and clean themselves as part of a ritual. I assume from the reading that  a similar process occurs in the Jamaica Bay. I liked that the Bay played the role of as a whole new world to the Hindu’s. It was as if they were replicating their homeland and doing the same ritual thousands of miles away.

I have asked many of my Hindu friends if they have actually gone to the Jamaica Bay area. What I learned was that many of them go there because they aren’t able to go to the Ganges river annually. In a way, the Bay serves as a substitute. I was also surprised to find out that some of my friends who were practicing Mallu Christians also went to the river. When asked as to why they went, they said that the Bay played a large role not just in the Hindu religion, but a large role in South Asian culture. The Bay was not exclusive to Hindu’s, but was a retreat for everyone as a whole. They also stated that the Ganges river also welcomed thousands of tourists and non-Hindu’s.