The Sacred Ganges

Just a few days ago I witnessed something so powerful and beautiful that I just HAVE to share it... Our first stop out of Delhi was to the holy city of Haridwar. We arrived in the evening and the next day ventured out to the bathing ghats (stepped platforms) on the banks of the Ganges. The main ghat is Har-ki-Pairi (The Footstep of God) which is sacred for the fact that it's where the Ganges exits from the mountains out into the plains + it's power at this point to wash away sins. People make pilgrimages from all over the country to bathe in it's cleansing waters and it's QUITE the scene! I had expected something a bit more serene, but there are people by the 1000's - pilgrims, holy men + beggars mostly (there was hardly another tourist there) and it's got more of a festival-like atmosphere. Many people visit the temple on the hill and we saw many families having their babies heads shaved (Don't ask me!). Sunset though is when the REAL magic happens. Every evening priests perform Ganga Aarti (The River Worship Ceremony) right on the ghats. Music plays on the loudspeakers and priests spin fire while people bathe in the waters. All around me, people were performing their own private rituals before sending out banana-leaf boats filled with flowers and a lighted butter candle onto the river. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it all and tears began to well up in my eyes. A small girl added a red + yellow smudge to my forehead and I felt at one with the moment and with these people.