Where deities frown at Holi colours

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Where deities frown at Holi colours

B.D.Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, March 6

Despite Holi celebrations going on whole of kumaon region,  12 villages of Talla Johar region of Munsiyari sub division of pithoragarh district do not celebrate the festival as according to local villagers it irritates their local deity.

“The villages that does not celebrate the festival of colour, are, Harkat, Matena, Papri, paikuti, Barnia, ring, Chulkot, Hokra, Manik, Gola, Jarthi and Khoyam,”said Puran Pandey a social worker in Munsiyari.

According to villagers, their ancestors had started celebrating Holi, some 100 years ago, along with other regions of Kumaon division, but their local deities gave negative symptoms whenever the Holi celebrations started in these villages.                           “Once, when the villagers were playing Holi, they show two snakes fighting in  the temple campus of local deity “Bharati Sain”, and even in following years bad omen were witnessed in temples of local deities, when the people asked the Dhamis,(man on whose body the local deity appears) the deities said that they dislike the colour,”said Khushal Singh Harkotia,  a local elder of Harkot village.

“Though, the people living outside from villages celebrate Holi  but in their original villages of Talla Johar region, even applying “Tika” at the forehead is prohibited,”said Khushal singh.