{"id":1210926,"date":"2022-01-12T12:19:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T17:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1210926"},"modified":"2022-01-12T12:19:29","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T17:19:29","slug":"india-tries-canceling-holiday-swim-as-thousands-line-up-along-ganges-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/india-tries-canceling-holiday-swim-as-thousands-line-up-along-ganges-river\/","title":{"rendered":"India Tries Canceling Holiday Swim as Thousands Line Up Along Ganges River"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Findia-tries-canceling-holiday-swim-as-thousands-line-up-along-ganges-river%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1210926&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\"><span>Indian officials concerned about the omicron coronavirus outbreak are trying to cancel this weekend\u2019s holiday swim in the Ganges River, even as thousands of Hindus line up along its banks, and their numbers could easily swell into the millions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Friday brings the first major festival of the year for Hindus, a holiday known as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/lifestyle\/festivals\/happy-makar-sankranti-history-significance-and-date-of-the-festival-101610440318054.html\"><span>Makar Sankranti<\/span><\/a><span> which commemorates the end of winter in India. The festival is dedicated to the sun god Surya and timed to coincide with the sun appearing to enter the constellation Capricorn, which is called \u201cMakara\u201d in the most common Indian dialect.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>Hindus believe <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/archive.indianexpress.com\/news\/holy-bathing-prayers-kiteflying-mark-makar-sankranti\/737920\/\"><span>bathing<\/span><\/a><span> in the Ganges and other sacred rivers during the Makar Sankranti holiday washes away their sins and brings good fortune during the coming harvest season. Charitable donations of certain foods and kite-flying are also signature elements of the holiday.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10071351\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/b8b5f1_30-million-devotees-expected-immerse-themselves-confluence-rivers-ganges.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10071351\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/b8b5f1_30-million-devotees-expected-immerse-themselves-confluence-rivers-ganges.jpg\" alt=\"AFP\" width=\"768\" height=\"531\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Millions take the plunge at India\u2019s religious mega festival in 2019 (SANJAY KANOJIA\/AFP)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>The Makar Sankranti \u201cbath\u201d or \u201cdip\u201d is normally a huge event, with lines of devotees forming at temples early in the morning despite chilly temperatures. It is frequently counted as the largest communal religious celebration in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_19452426\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1237658295.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-19452426 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1237658295-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Hindu devotees travel on a vehicle as they arrive at Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati, ahead of the one month long annual traditional Hindu festival \u2018Magh Mela\u2019 in Allahabad on January 11, 2022. (SANJAY KANOJIA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>This year, however, Indian health officials are worried about a twenty-fold spike in coronavirus infections due to the Omicron variant, which is highly contagious but generally less severe in its effects. Local governments across the country are imposing curfews for the holiday weekend, while the capital of New Delhi announced an outright lockdown.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Some districts <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/india-news\/haridwar-bans-ganga-snan-on-makar-sankranti-in-view-of-omicron-spread-101641875769946.html\"><span>explicitly banned<\/span><\/a><span> Makar Sankranti bathing and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/zeenews.india.com\/india\/makar-sankranti-2022-no-holy-dips-in-ganga-in-haridwar-night-curfew-imposed-check-curbs-2427020.html\"><span>restricted access<\/span><\/a><span> to riverside parks. Others stressed that coronavirus restrictions are in effect and large gatherings of any kind are prohibited.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Health officials in West Bengal said these restrictions were imposed too late, or were simply ignored by celebrants, as thousands of pilgrims are already massed at traditional bathing sites along the Ganges.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe crowd may swell to anywhere between 800,000 to one million. We are trying to implement all Covid protocols,\u201d West Bengal minister Bankim Chandra Hazra <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/1\/11\/india-million-ganges-makar-sankranti-holy-dip-covid\">told<\/a> <\/span><span>Al Jazeera News<\/span><span> on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hazra said arrangements have been made to sprinkle holy water from drones so mass bathing is unnecessary, but Hindu holy men are \u201cbent on taking the dip,\u201d and \u201cwe can\u2019t prevent them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indian officials concerned about the omicron coronavirus outbreak are trying to cancel this weekend\u2019s holiday swim in the Ganges River, even as thousands of Hindus line up along its banks, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1210926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1210926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1210926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1210926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1210926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}