Q1.
What is your favourite festival and how is it celebrated in your region? Do you know whether it is celebrated in any other part of India, maybe under a different name?
Answer
What a good answer must contain — three parts: (1) name your festival and say honestly why it is your favourite; (2) describe how your own region keeps it — the food, the clothes, the decoration, the days it lasts; (3) name at least two other regions that keep the same festival, with the names used there.
Sample answer:
My favourite festival is Makara Sankrānti, because it is the one day in the year when the whole neighbourhood is on the terrace at the same time. In our part of Maharashtra it falls on 14 January. The kitchen fills with the smell of roasting sesame, and we make tilgul — laddus of sesame and jaggery — which we give to everyone we meet, saying “til-gul ghya, god god bola”, take this sweet and speak sweetly. Women wear black saris that day and exchange small gifts at a haldi-kunku gathering. From morning to dusk the sky is full of kites.
The same festival is kept all over India on the same date, under other names. In Tamil Nadu it is Pongal, when new rice is boiled in a pot until it spills over. In Punjab the night before is Lohri, with a bonfire, and the day itself is Maghi. In Assam it is Magh Bihu, with community feasts. In Gujarat it is Uttarayan, famous for its kites. So my favourite festival turns out to be a festival I share with the whole country.
The same festival is kept all over India on the same date, under other names. In Tamil Nadu it is Pongal, when new rice is boiled in a pot until it spills over. In Punjab the night before is Lohri, with a bonfire, and the day itself is Maghi. In Assam it is Magh Bihu, with community feasts. In Gujarat it is Uttarayan, famous for its kites. So my favourite festival turns out to be a festival I share with the whole country.
If your own festival is a different one, the map on page 132 still gives you the method: find the date and the reason, and then look for the same date and reason elsewhere under another name.
| Name on the map (Fig. 8.5) | Region | What it marks / how it is kept |
|---|---|---|
| Shishur Saenkraat | Kashmir Valley | The sun's turn northward in the depth of winter |
| Maghi / Lohri | Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh | A bonfire on Lohri night; the winter crop and the coming harvest |
| Khichdi Parv | Uttar Pradesh | A dip in the river and a gift of khichdi — rice and dal cooked together |
| Makar Sankraat | Madhya Pradesh and central India | Kites and sweets of sesame and jaggery |
| Uttarayan | Gujarat and Rajasthan | Literally ‘the northward journey’ of the sun; a famous kite festival |
| Makar Sankranti | Maharashtra | Tilgul laddus and the greeting “speak sweetly” |
| Magh Bihu | Assam | The end of the harvesting season; community feasts and bonfires |
| Poush Songkranti | West Bengal | The last day of the month of Poush; pithe-puli made of new rice, date palm jaggery and coconut |
| Makara Sankranti | Odisha | Makara chaula, an offering made from newly harvested rice |
| Pedda Panduga | Andhra Pradesh and Telangana | ‘The big festival’, kept over several days, with muggu floor designs and decorated bulls |
| Makara Sankramana | Karnataka | Ellu-bella, sesame and jaggery, shared with the words “eat sweet, speak sweet” |
| Pongal | Tamil Nadu | Four days; new rice boiled in a pot until it boils over, and thanks given to the sun and to cattle |
| Makara Vilakku | Kerala | The lamp lit at the close of the Sabarimala pilgrim season, on the evening of Makara Sankrānti |
Why one festival has so many names: the event behind it is not a name at all — it is the sun's turn towards the north and the harvest that follows, and that happens over the whole country on the same days. Each region gave the same event its own name in its own language and its own food, dress and games. One reason, many celebrations.