CUSTOMS / CULTURE/ HERITAGE
Turmeric — Trailblazing Beauty and Womanhood
Coming of age and other stories
“Each spice has a special day to it. For turmeric, it is Sunday, when light drips fat and butter-colored into the bins to be soaked up glowing when you pray to the nine planets for love and luck.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Mistress of Spice
Turmeric is the spice behind the vibrant yellow color of Indian curries. The use of turmeric dates back to 4000 years during the Vedic culture in India. India is also the major producer of this spice.
Beyond being a spice, turmeric is recognized for its cultural and spiritual significance outside the kitchen, and in the lives of Indian women. I love to call turmeric, the Yin spice — because of its greater role in celebrating the feminine, right from the start of puberty to the marriage.
Celebrating the coming of age, Manjal Neerattu Vizha
(Turmeric bath of girls on the occasion of reaching puberty)
(Turmeric is known as ‘Haldi’ in Hindi and ‘Manjal’ in Tamil. You will find these…
