|
Chaitti
According to the vikrami calendar the new year begins in the month of Chaitra.
The first day of this month (Chaitra Sankranti) is considered very important and
is celebrated all over the state. Two colourful festivals are celebrated during
this month . One is Navratri and the other is Ralli Puja. In some corner of the
house which faces east a plant is covered with soil and sown with barley seeds,
coconut, symbolising the goddess Bhagwati is also placed near it. For nine days
the ritual 'puja' is performed there and on the tenth day (Dashami) the barley
shoots are distributed all over the village. These shoots are known as Riholi
and they are said to symbolise the goddess Durga Bhagwati.
In Ralli Puja, the young unmarried girls in the village make little statues of
the lord Shiva and his wife Parvati and place these on a plank and offer prayers
to it throughout the month of Chaitra. The entire ritual is strange and
beautiful. All the young unmarried girls gather early in the morning in the
house where Ralli is going to be worshipped and afterwards they go to the local
lake singing songs. There they bathe and fill small metal pots with water and
come home and bathe the deities with this and offer them flowers. At the end of
the month a ritual wedding between Ralli and Lord Shiva is enacted. On the
Baisakhi day Ralli is brought out ceremoniously in a palanquin and taken to a
river bank. There she is immersed in the water and as it is being done the girls
cry and weep. On the day of the wedding, people are invited for Bhat (ritual
feast) and the girls pray to the goddess to bless them with a husband as good as
her own.
Chaitraul
Chaitrual is a popular festival of the Sirmaur area. It is celebrated in the
month of Chaitra on a certain day in the bright fortnight of the moon. On this
day the walls in the house are cleared, painted and decorated with figures of
male animals and crops symbolising plenty. It is also known as festival of
pictures. The Harijans are fed and the family deities are taken out into the
fields where the people cook a special delicacy known as Poltu. Sometime people
place the deity in the middle of the fields and cook a special savoury gruel as
offering. As they are driven back, the wheels of the chariots of the gods are
brushed with thorny twigs. At some places clay pots are broken to chase away
evil spirits.
Some
other features of this festival are indicative of primitive customs. One such
custom is 'Khore'. It is said to symbolise the compromise between the gods and
the demons (the Aryans and the non-Aryans). In this a man from a specific family
dresses up in special robes and puts on a demon mask (Khor). Cloth phallus is
hung near his neck and a cloth vagina (chhunchhuni) below his waist. The young
men in the village bring a phallus-shaped stick from their homes known as
Chaitral-Shid and tickle the 'khone' uttering obscene remarks. This continues
throughout the night obscene jokes are also cracked with women. At the end of
the night the khone returns to the temple, having first gone around the village
with drummers.
Basoa or Bishu
On the
first day of the month of Baisakh the aboriginals and the farming folk celebrate
the Basoa festival. Three days before the festival, people make little cakes
with Kodra (a coarse grain) flour and wrap them up in leaves. After three days
the cakes ferment, then on the morning of the festival day people invite the
married daughters and other relatives and break and eat these cakes with honey
and sweet water flavoured with jaggery. A ritual song is sung on this occasion.
In
Chamba some Jataras take place in memory of queen 'Sui'. Chamba city is filled
with the sounds of music and dancing on this occasion. The sad songs about the
queen Sui revive old memories in the hearts of the people.
In
Kinnaur this festival is known as Bishu. People cook a savoury gruel known as
Doon on this day and eat it together. In villages which do not celebrate
Chaitrual, Bishu marks the beginning of the new year. On this day the gods are
dressed up in special finery. The brass masks of the gods are cleaned and
polished. Every fourth year a festival called Bala is celebrated. On this day
old weapons belonging to the deities are brought out and cleaned. The villagers
divide themselves into two teams and play-act a mock battle. The winning
team return to the village singing and rejoicing all the way. In the village the
deities are taken around in their palanquins. It is believed that evil spirits
and ghosts get into the palanquin and increase the weight suddenly. Many dances
are also performed with ancient historical weapons.
|
