|
Rajula Festival
It
is celebrated for one day in honour of Polam Raju or Nagoba deity, a God
holding sway over the hills and forests. He is supposed to protect the
cattle and the herdsmen. On the full moon day in the month of Ashadha, all
the male members, including children with their cattle go to the nearby forest
and sacrifice a goat to Rajula deity. Kheer (rice cooked with milk
and sugar) is prepared and a little is given to all the cattle, the rest eaten
by the family members. Afterwards a straight line, twenty or thirty metres
long is drawn with turmeric powder and cattle are made to cross over it and
driven away untended into the forest and brought back on the following day and
the men perform the Puja. Women look after the preparation of the feast;
a non- vegetarian feast, including Kheer is prepared and eaten with much relish.
A goat is sacrificed and its meat is distributed among all. They do not
touch the leaf of a teak tree till the function is over. This festival is
based on the belief that on the day, if any of the cattle driven away to the
forest is killed by a tiger, the village would face a tiger menace throughout
the year.
Ugadi
It
is the Telugu New Year day celebrated on Chaitra Suddha Padyami, the first day
of the bright fortnight in the month of Chaitra. This festival is known as
Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Ugadi in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is a day of great joy
and happiness. There is a strong belief that this day's happenings fore
shadow the course of events in the entire year head. Everybody in the
house gets up early in the morning takes an oil bath and puts on new clothes.
Torana, ( festoons of mango leaves), are tied to all the doors of the house
The front yards are washed with cow dung water and decorated with different
designs. Bhakshya otherwise known as Purampoli, is the special sweet cooked on
this day. A special preparation called ugadi pachadi (chutney) is a must
in very house. Fresh tamarind with fresh water, jaggery, fresh mangoes and
fresh margosa flowers form the ingredients of Ugadi Pachadi. They are
mixed in a new decorated earthen pot and then kept before the presiding deity of
the house hold. After puja, everybody partakes of the Ugadi Pachadi and
only then goes for meals in the company of all. The significance of this
Pachadi is, the mixture of bitter margosa flowers and sweet jaggery is that life
also is a mixture of sorrow and joy. Men and women take part in sports and
games, cock-fights and competitions, girls and boys find delight in having
informal singing competitions.
In the evening
people gather in temples or in common places. The village purohit
worships the new panchangam or almanac. Then he announces the
influence of various planets during the new year over the wind, rains and crops,
cattle, wealth and human beings. Every body is eager to know his own
future for the year according to his
rashi. In towns and cities poet's gatherings and musical concerts are
held.
Eruvaka Purnima
This
is a special festival celebrated mainly by the farmers and agriculturists.
It falls on the full moon day in the month of Ashadha. Agriculturists
worship the yoke, the plough and the bulls with turmeric and kumkum. Coconuts are broken either at home or in the field,
in-front of the yokes and bulls. They inaugurate the annual cultivation by ploughing
five or nine rounds in their fields on this day, as it is supposed to be an
auspicious day auguring fresh showers. They also cook payasam, a small
dish and enjoy it with their children and relatives. In some parts of the
country cultivators worship the bullock. They wash the cattle, smear and
decorate the hooves and horns with oil and a variety of colours and feed them
with pulagam (rice, green gram dal and sesame cooked together). The bodies
are also decorated gaily with coloured circles and designs. Little
bells are tied to their horns and necks and they are driven out into the open
space to wander and run about. The tillers take home a part of the festoon
that is tied to the village gate, after the cattle pass under it as a talisman
for the ensuring year. Children collect seeds a week in advance and sow them in
the corners of the temple. By the festival day, the young plants sprout
and a few of these tender plants are taken home by the tillers and kept in their
granaries for a prosperous crop during the coming year. The gaily dressed
people and the colourfully decorated cattle make the village a grand spectacle
of colour and pageantry.
|
