| Another
version treats it as day when child Krishna
had sucked the demoness Putna to death.
In yet
another version, which is popular in Gujarat,
Prahlad, the son of the demon King Hiranyakashyap
had emerged unhurt from the heap of fire he
was made to sit on, in the lap of Holika,
who got burnt instead. Thus on a full moon
day of Spring, Holi is celebrated to commemorate
the event of one's belief.
CELEBRATION
:
The festival is celebrated by lighting a bonfire
of wood and cowdung, which is erected in a
conical shape over a small pit, which is dug
at the bottom. Such fires are lit on almost
all the important cross-sections of roads.
Elders predict the timing of the monsoon on
the basis of the direction in which the flag
planted atop falls. Devotees offer coconut
to the fire and the youth retrieve them amidst
applause of bystanders.
It is
also the principal religious festival of Adivasis
in Gujarat. They abandon work and indulge
in ceaseless folk dancing. The girls observe
this festival by growing wheat in the bamboo
baskets filled with earth and manure. In some
tribes people indulge in the foulest of abuse
and mock fights.
DHULETI :
 The
next day after Holi is Dhuleti or Dhuli Padvo.
Literally, it means throwing of mud, the practice,
which had given way to throwing of vermilion.
At times, the merrymaking lapses into unhindered
revelry as youngsters indulge into throwing
colours, not only on their friends but also
on strangers taking advantage of the permissiveness
granted on the occasion.
THE
TRIBAL FERVOUR :
In the villages of Panchmahals, Adivasi men
play a martial game known as Gol-Gadheda in
which the women after snatching a shoulder
scarf from a man, ties it on a tree top with
a lump of molasses. It is the job of the man
to retrieve it from the tree, which is vigorously
guarded by women. The game goes on till one
of the men succeeds in securing the bundle.
Such is the boundless merrymaking of the day. |
