|
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. |
