Introduction

The reBirth Ceremony

My reBirth ceremonies are where I shave my hair every 3 years and think deliberately about my past, my future, my dreams and the trajectory of my Destiny. This physical transformation is coupled with a spiritual transformation. In the first 3 years, I shave everything except the Mullet of Destiny which represents that some ideas from the last 3 years will echo into the next 3 years. After that, my hair grows back and 3 years later I shave everything for a complete reBirth which opens the opportunity for a fundamental change in my life. Each reBirth ceremony usually signals a new era that is thematically different than the one before. This reBirth ceremony (2020) represented my transition into the Era of Dissemination where I took all of the content of the last 39 years of my life and started disseminating it mostly through the internet.

https://sites.google.com/view/vivekanandpandeyvimal

https://www.youtube.com/user/vvimaldhye

https://www.instagram.com/somdeland/

https://www.facebook.com/vvimaldhye

linkedin.com/in/vivekanand-vimal-87532041

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vivekanand_Vimal

The Community

Before my hair shaving reBirth ceremony, I bring together the community for a pre-reBirth ceremony. The purpose of bringing the community together is to collectively experience a moment that hopefully breaks, disrupts and interrupts the normal flow of life through cycles of routine and schedule. Because this moment is experienced together and because it is often 'weird' it becomes a moment that we can easily remember and if we attach meaning and thought during that unusual experience, it can remain with us for a while.

The second reason for bringing the community together is that I like meeting old friends in a new setting, where we idea generate, imagine,collaborate and deliberately experience life together.

The themes of the pre-reBirth Dance Ceremony

Thematically, I wanted to explore the Human Identity through Animality, Humanity, and Technology. I have also been wanting to deepen the moments of feeling merged with Nature and of being in a meditative or altered-mind state without any substances. I thought that perhaps Dance could bring me to that state. However, I realized that people may feel self-conscious and unable to lose themselves in a dance ceremony and so I explored the idea of dissolving or changing one's identity by making and wearing masks.

The structure of the pre-reBirth Dance Ceremony

Similar to the structure of the Human Augmentation event, I had three components to this pre-reBirth Dance Ceremony:
1. Reality: Lectures on the themes of Identity, Music, Masks and Ritual
2. Digestion: Socializing and Discussions while mask making and applying the ideas from the Reality
3. Ceremony/Mythology: A dance ceremony where the masks from the Digestion were used.

Presentations (Reality)

I am extremely grateful and appreciative that Susan created this wonderful presentation on Seraikella Chhau (a dance form from Jharkhand, India) which is a summary of Susan's dissertation. This presentation was originally shown during my reBirth ceremony (see link below) Dr. Susan Thomson Tripathy is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Sociology at UMass Lowell.

I am extremely grateful and appreciative that Eric created this wonderful presentation on Mask Making and Identity. This presentation was originally shown during my reBirth ceremony. Eric Bornstein: award-winning artist, arts educator, author, and Fulbright Scholar. Check out his website: www.behindthemask.org

Mask Making (Digestion)

People used concepts from the lectures to make masks that represented themselves. Afterwards, everyone shared what they made and wore it for the third part.

In the video below, people share the meaning of their masks. I was blown away by the beauty and symbolism of the masks which were made in less than 1.5 hours.

Dance (Ceremony/Mythology)

Over many months I composed the soundtrack and choreographed the dance, all which had deep symbolic meaning. If you are interested in the symbolism, you can read the pdf below or you can check out this playlist which describes all of the symbolism of each of the dances.

Here is a video that summarizes the symbolism in this part of the ceremony, however the full details can be found in the pdf below.

Here is a video of the actual ceremony!

All of the intricate details of the symbolism of my ceremony are in the document below!

Hair Ceremony

I'll provide more details/photos in the future:

It starts with music meditation

Then a speech that reviews my journey with the community that has gathered

Then I go into my nastypose and each person pours water onto my head while my nasty theme song is being played. They use a wooden bowl and spoon that I made. Then, the person will cut a lock of my hair and give it to me. They will also cut a lock of my beard and sprinkle it into the wind while making a wish.

I couple this physical transformation with a spiritual one. Every time I look into the mirror, I am reminded of my new goals.