Saumya Arya Haas

When I tell people I'm Hindu, one of the first reactions is sympathy. Because I'm not just Hindu, I'm a Hindu woman. It's assumed that this is a difficult thing to be. Honestly, sometimes it is. Hinduism comes with considerable gender baggage (what doesn't?). Yes, a lot of Hindu women...

In October, I stepped into the raucous noise of a high school event. I don't have children, and the chaos made me momentarily cower. If you're not used to them, young people are loud and little frightening. I attended the event to show support to my niece, Dharani Persaud (who...

This is an odd time, and I am an odd person, to be writing this. I'm a woman. We just finished the Hindu Festival of Navrathri, which is a nine-night celebration of the Feminine Divine. So why am I writing about the spiritual wisdom of men?

One of my...

I fell in love with a broken city. Like all love, it is impractical, ridiculous, and difficult to explain. It makes me look like a fool. I could describe her to you: her beauty, her history of abuse, her spirit and her ways. But you wouldn't understand unless you love...

Last week in Queens, young Hindu-American organized a screening and discussion of an animated film called "Sita Sings the Blues," to draw other young Hindus and Sikhs into conversation about their faiths.

Rather than recap the entire debacle here, you can read what happened next in the

I never learned much about religion until I started hanging out at Muddy Waters Coffee Shop on the corner of Lyndale and 24th in Uptown, Minneapolis.

I was raised to be a priestess (of Hinduism), grew up surrounded by world scripture and philosophy, and was taught by...

Editors note: While this article adheres to the AP Style, 'Vodou' is considered a more appropriate spelling by the author and other scholars.

Presenting Voodoo to my readers has been challenging: it is a vast, varied and much-abused subject. In my first post, I introduced some basic concepts...

Editors Note: While this article uses the AP Style spelling, 'Vodou' is considered a more appropriate spelling by the author and other scholars.

Before I answer any questions, I have some for you: What do you know about Voodoo?
Where did you get that impression?

Voodoo probably isn't what...

We've been arguing about rape a lot lately. The legal definitions of both "rape" and of "victim" have recently been challenged in separate proposed legislation. (I understand many people prefer the term "rape survivor;" in this article, "victim" refers to the legal language only.)

I'm relieved to hear that The...

After a lifetime of not thinking about it much, I suddenly stumbled into Holocaust memories, and now they are tangled around me. They are not my memories, but their meaning is part of my life. It has to be.

Why am I posting this in the midst of the...

Every year, the Christmas vs. The Holidays debate is dragged out, dusted off and hung up again. I'd like to propose an alternative way to express a (non-Christian) encounter with Christmas. Let's agree that Christians are the majority but not the only religious culture that influences our popular and public...

I have an immigrant's dream: a Better Homes and Gardens Thanksgiving dinner. One perfectly choreographed meal of American bounty and perfection. This photogenic fantasy meal represents something else: proof of my worth. Although I was born here, I used to feel I came up short on this most American of...