For 500 years, a village where only women play Holi.
In a village called Kundaura in the Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh, men are not allowed to play Holi in this village. Only women’s teams can play Holi. On this day, women enjoy all kinds of freedom. Throughout the year, the women, who walk around with the veil stretched out in front of the village elders, also enjoy Holi by meeting the men at home.
There is a village called Kundaura in the Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The population of the village is barely five thousand.
But the exciting thing is that men are not allowed to play Holi in this village. Only women’s teams can play Holi. Girls and women of all ages go out in the morning with drums and go home and sing fag. This ritual has been going on for the last five centuries.
On this day, women enjoy all kinds of freedom. Throughout the year, the women, who walk around with the veil stretched out in front of the village elders, also enjoy Holi by meeting the men at home.
If a village man accidentally reaches among the women, he may be washed. They are worn around the village wearing skirts and bodices.
Rejecting the veil, Awadhesh
Yadav, the former minister of the village, told Divya Bhaskar over the phone that the history of Holi being played only by women in the village is hundreds of years old.
This ancestral tradition is still celebrated with great rejoicing. The women have also started preparations for this Holi.
Awadhesh Yadav says that men play with colors on the first day of Holi, but on the second day, that is, on the day of Dhuleti, only women and girls come together and celebrate these colors.
Their gangs roam the whole village unabated. All the men stay in their homes or go to the farms outside the village to take care of the farming so that the brides do not face any hindrance in this program.
They enter the village only after a long day. No man is ever allowed to see this Holi of women. If a man appears on the road that day, it happens to him.
Fag starts from the temple.
According to the information given by Awadhesh, the women start the whole festival by removing the fag from the Ram-Janki temple. No man can see it while removing the fag. Even taking photos or videos is forbidden.
During this unique tradition, if a person is caught taking a photo without permission, it can lead to severe consequences. It can also incur significant fines. He is beaten with sticks and driven out of the village.
In-laws dance together.
The women of this village say that it has become a part of this unique tradition since they got married in the village. This is the only village in Bundelkhand where this tradition is still followed. The in-laws dance happily together while taking out the fag. The women hug each other, and in the late evening, they cook for the house’s men.
Villagers say that a few decades ago, on the day of Holi, villagers were playing Holi fag at
the Ram-Janki temple. At the same time, a bandit named Member Singh rushed there. Police also announced a reward for Member Singh. He shot dead a man named Rajpal of the village. After that, Holi was not celebrated in the village for many years.
Many years later, the village women came together and persuaded the men to resume the Holi celebrations. If they did not believe, he paved the way that on the first day, only men would play with colors, and on the second day, only women would celebrate Holi, in which men would not be present.
SOURCE:Divyabhaskar.
