Raw: https://wiki.auroville.org.in/w/api.php?action=parse&origin=*&format=json&page=1972 Source: https://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/1972

(Ruud Lohman, 1 January 1972:) “This morning at 6.30 we had a New Year's celebration at Matrimandir. On the bottom, now 9 metres deep, four large fires were lit and all the workers gathered around them and on the various ledges which run around the excavation at different heights. Many people from the Auroville communities and from Pondy came, too. The first rays of the sun emerged. Then we played the New Year's music, as an experiment, for we were not sure how the workers would react. But they got more and more quiet and seemed to experience it intensively. Somebody gave a five minutes talk in Tamil on the meaning of Matrimandir and their work and explained the idea of the Centenary Year. When sweets were distributed they got so much into it that they started making it into a festival. They lost all idea of work and after two hours they left and we also took the day off. This morning was a clear symbol of what has been established during the last six weeks: a good understanding between the Tamilians and the Aurovilians. The work has gone beautifully, the first phase of Matrimandir will be completed this week; the huge crater is ready. It is splendid, great. It reminds many visitors of the construction of the pyramids, of the Colosseum, of cathedrals, really a monument that embodies a new age.”[1]

WIP...