Chhattisgarhi Festival : Hareli Tihar with sacred leaves of neem

In Chhattisgarh state Hareli Festival is the important festival among farmers. The word Hareli is originated from Hindi word 'Hariyali' and it means Vegetation or Greenery. This is mainly important festival of Chhattisgarh's 'Gond' Tribal.

This festival is celebrated in The new moon day of Srawan (Sawan Amavsya) month of the Hindu calendar between July and August in rainy season. This festival depicts the starting of the month of ‘Shravana’ that is the sacred month of the Hindus.

> This festival is celebrated the whole day and nobody is allowed to do any work. The equipment that are related to farms and the cows are worshiped by the farmers on this auspicious day with a view to ensure good crop the whole year.

The entrance of the houses is adorned by hangings branches of Neem tree. The conventional Practitioners of Medicines in Chhattisgarh do several researches with the Neem plants and prepare medicines for the well-being of the people there. This team of practitioners belongs to the ‘Baiga Tribe’ of Chhattisgarh State. This tribe educates their followers for the subsequent fifteen days just from the day of Hareli festival. They continue to teach their students till the day of ‘Panchami’ that is the next day of Ganesh Chaturthi. On the auspicious day of Panchami they conduct examinations for their students. License to carry on medical practice is granted by them if they get contented by the presentations or performances of their students.

On this day of festival Goddess ‘Kutki Dai’, the deity of the crops is worshiped by the farmers with a view to have good yields. The festival is manifested by the farmer kids by playing a game called ‘Gedi’. In this game the children get ascended to the big bamboo sticks and move around the fields. Children also participate in the ‘Gedi’ games and race that is held in many places.

Feast

Most of the conventional food is made up of rice. Preparations from different types of green vegetable such as Kanda bhaji, Kochai patta, Chowlai bhaji, Lal bhaji, Bohar bhaji and Kohda are eaten by the people. Muthiya, fara that are rice rolls in white sauce, angarkar roti, Chousera roti are some of the preparations that are made with rice flour. Bore Bassi is an important meal. Doodh fara, Bidiya, Bafauli, Kusli, khurmi and balooshahi are the sweets making from wheat and rice flour. A concoction made from the fruit of the local tree known as Mahua is very much liked by the Tribal and farmers.