In February each year, Ludhiana becomes the destination fro hundreds of sports enthusiasts, including foreigners. They come to Kila Raipur to see the special breed of bullocks, camels, dogs, mules and other animals competing in highly professional events. It is to be seen to be believed. In 1946, Mr. Bakhsish Singh was instrumental in getting the most popular event of the Games – the Bullock Cart Race – introduced. This is the annual
Kila Raipur Sports Festival, commonly called
The Rural Olympics.
This years games are over, but
photos of
various events are
being posted online. For one last taste,
here's a 10 minute video from the 2007 events.
posted by filthy light thief
on Feb 21, 2012 -
3 comments
It is spring here in India, and
Ugadi (the Spring Festival) is being celebrated with much pomp and ceremony throughout the southern part of the country. In
Maharashtra, the same festival is referred to as
Gudi Padwa.
posted by hadjiboy
on Mar 19, 2007 -
15 comments
The Festival of Lights, Good vs. Evil Diwali is the Hindu
Festival of Lights that falls each year in October or November.
This year, Diwali is on the 21st of October 2006.
Legends
about Diwali are many, from
the story of
Prince Prahlad, immortal in his faith in the universe to the
story of Ram and Sita returning from exile to Ayodhya. My favourite is not a story so much as a snippet of what
is actually said to happen tonight, not
the mythology behind it.
Lakshmi walks tonight, she is the
Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity, and lamps [diya or deep] are lit and placed at hearths and entrances so as to help her find her way. Accompanying her is the
elephant headed one,
Ganesh, the
remover of obstacles and giver of
knowledge. Just welcome them into your home.
posted by infini
on Oct 21, 2006 -
22 comments
Holi .
Now Ruz. The
Hindu Festival of Colors. The
Persian New Year. Easter and Passover are not the only religious holidays associated with the first full moon of spring. Both appeal to me—in Holi people go about splashing each other with colors, powder and paint, and in Now Ruz I see Halloween--
Last Tuesday night in March before Ruz is Chahar-Shanbe-Soorey in Iran... Children wear masks, and go door to door to get candy. People jump over bon fires while wishing for good health--surely the greatest religious festival we celebrate. And, ancillary topic, polytheism fascinates me: so, let me get way way pre-medieval on your collective ass and drop some
James Hillman on you via
Marc Fonda (you may have to scroll down to
III. Polytheism as an Alternate Paradigm for Psychology).
Hillman, author of
Dream And The Underworld and co-author of
We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy And the World's Getting Worse, among others, is, of course, a name no stranger to these pages.
Both Holi and Now Ruz seem to celebrate a victory of by a legendary king over demon sources, and both celebrate Spring. Both I know little about—so enlighten me, please. A belated happy Holi to all you real brahmins, Boston or otherwise, and a belatedly same happy Now Roz to all you Teherangelenos here on MetafFilter. And do play
Virtual Holi.
posted by y2karl
on Mar 31, 2002 -
11 comments
Time to wash up for Hindus. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for religion and such. But if you wash your sins away in
this river, you might wind up with something that
won't wash off.
posted by CRS
on Jan 9, 2001 -
8 comments
