This festival is celebrated in September (on the Anand Chaudas on the
14th day of the bright half of Bhadon) every year for three days, in the
village of Chhapaar in Ludhiana District, at Gugge di Marhi, a big shrine.
This shrine was built in 1890 in the memory of Goga-the Zahir Pir,
the Lord of the snakes , believed to have possess special powers
to recover all kinds of snakes poisons. It is celebrated to worship
the Lord. It is said that the effect of Snake poison will be reduced
by his grace and infertile women are also blessed to fertile. During
the festival a procession is held by carrying Guga Pir .Thousands of devotees
of different religion attended this procession to get the blessings
of the Lord Guja. On the festival day villagers dig out earth seven
times, to invoke Gugga Pir to protect them against snakes.
It is the festival of dance also called as Zinda Dance . This is a Grand
Dance Carnival where beautiful girls dance onstage according to the tune
of music; it is an attractive show witnessed by large number of people
from different parts of the country .In this mela People sing folk songs
and perform folk dances. |