Pola Festival is Celebrated on Pithori Amavasya.This Year Pola Festival will Celebrated 17 August 2012.
About Pola Festival
India is probably the only country in the world, where the festivals are celebrated to pay respect to the animals. Pola is one such festival, when farmers pay respect to Bullocks. This is a very popular festival in the rural parts of India.
India is a country with focus on Agriculture as main source of income. Economic conditions in India largely depend on Agricultural income. Although some parts of India now use mechanical equipment for farming, in many parts bullocks are used for faarming. Hence farmers celebrate this festival of Pola aslo known as ‘Bail Pola’
Pola is celebrated on the new moon day (Pithori Amavasya) of Shravan month (usually falls in August). On the previous evening farmers remove the ‘vesan (rope put through the nostrils of bull), apply the paste of turmeric powder prepared in ground nut oil, to the shoulder of the bull. Give a hot water bath. Give khichadi of bajari to eat.
On the day of Pola, farmers take their bullocks to the river & clean them thoroughly, worship their bullocks. Decorate them by painting their horns, putting ornaments in the horns. Decorative shawls are put on their body. Flower garlands are put around the neck of bullocks. Then in the evening, all the bullocks are taken through the streets in a joyous procession with the farmers playing drums, bugles, lezim (a typical Indian musical instrument)
On this evening in the rural parts of India, fairs are conducted, wherein some competitions & outdoor games like volleyball, wrestling, kabaddi, kho-kho etc…
In the urban parts of India, many people bring wooden or earthen bullocks & worship them & celebrate this festival.
Most popular sweet dish prepared for on Pola day is Puran Poli.
Pola Festival Celebration in Maharashtra
Pola Festival is celebrated throughout the state of Maharashtra, in the Hindu month of Shravan (that usually coincides August). It falls on day of Pithori Amavasya (new moon day) in Shravan. The festival marks the day when farmers worship their bulls and it is from the next day only that ploughing and sowing of fields is started. On the day before Pola Festival, farmers remove ‘vesan’ (the rope) from the nostrils of their bull. Thereafter, they apply a paste of turmeric powder and ground nut oil, on its shoulders.
Finally, the bull is given a hot water bath and served with khichadi, made of bajari. On the day of the festival, the bull is taken to the nearest river or pond and given a thorough bath. The farmers then paint the bull’s horns and put colorful ornaments over them. Lastly, an ornamented shawl is put over the body of the bullocks and their neck is adorned with flower garlands. After decorating the bulls, the farmers worship them. Evening time is reserved for taking enthusiastic processions of all the bulls in the area, beautifully adorned, through the streets.
Side by side, we see the farmers playing instruments like drums, bugles, lezims (a typical Indian musical instrument), etc. At some of the villages in India, even fairs are organized as a part of the celebrations. The major attractions of these fairs comprise of competitions and outdoor games like volleyball, wrestling, kabaddi, kho-kho, etc. In towns and cities, instead of worshipping bulls, people worship their statues, either wooden or earthen. Last but not the least, Puran Poli (a sweet dish) adds the perfect flavor to the festivities.
Pola Festival Celebration in Chhattisgarh
Pola is one such festival that is largely celebrated in the bucolic zones of Chhattisgarh with great pomp and grandeur. The objective behind the festive celebrations is to pay respect to the bullocks, without whom the country’s economy and agriculture would be in deplorable shambles.
Pola Festival, also known as Pithori Amavasya is celebrated during Sharavana or monsoon and lays great emphasis on treating the bestial creatures with due respect. The festival is celebrated on a lovely new moon night when the star studded whitewashed sky closely resembles a ripe and flourishing paddy field. At the culmination of this ceremony, ploughing and sowing of seeds begin.
Pola or Bail Pola is a festival that is grandly celebrated in rural India, which has a predominantly agrarian economy. The festivites commence with the farmers adorning their bulls with decorating garments, embellishing their bodies with turmeric powder and garlanding the beast and finally offering them holy food. The evenings witness musical parades promenades where the farmers march with their cattle in tow. They also regale in outdoor games and gorge on the local delicacy of Puran Poli.
