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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.
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