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Holi
The festival of
Holi comes in the full moon day in the month of Falgun. Some
women in the village offer special Puja during Holi.
Small twigs of the
'Kamal' tree are painted in red and yellow and then laid out in little
bamboo baskets (khartoo) along with thread, kumkum, jaggery and roasted
grams. The women carry this basket and little pots of coloured water in
their hands and go for the Puja. This is first offered to an elderly man
(Dandochh) and then the Holi is played. The next day the entire village
plays Holi. The day prior to Holi, when the moon comes out, the Holi bonfire
is built and set to fire. There is a scramble during this among the younger
men to touch the Holi flag first. He who touch it first, is considered
lucky. Special Kadah Prasad (sweet gruel) is also cooked and distributed.
The Holi melas at Palampur, Ghughar, Paprola, Baijnath,
Jaisinghpur and Sujanpur also have an attraction of their own. The Holi
festival of Sujanpur traces its colourful history back to the glorious
days of king Sansar Chand. This fair has been declared as a state festival
by the Himachal government. The fair lasts for five days during which
various processions of deities are taken out. Folk dances and traditional
folk theater forms are also presented. Clay pots are also sold and the
entire valley seems to reverberate with the joyous sounds of the traditional
Holi songs.
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