Keonjhar: When the country celebrates Diwali-the festival of lights with lamps, crackers and sweets, Kudumi community dominated villages in Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts celebrates the festival by worshipping cows.
Kenduapada, a Kudumi community dominated village in Ghatagaon block of Keonjhar district celebrates the festival for three days with much fervour.
Members of the community begin preparations 10 days ahead of the festival by plastering their houses with fresh mud. All members of the family wear new clothes.
The community worships cows during the festival. The cattle are given a bath and their horns are anointed with oil.
On the evening of Diwali, all the cattle are brought to the ‘Gotha’ a common place in the village. The village priest or an elderly man of the village carries out a puja. The priest then places an egg before the cattle and they are let loose.
The owner of the cow that tramples the egg with its hoof is considered lucky and blessed. The villagers garland the cow and its owner and take them around the village in a procession amid singing, dancing and beating of drums (madal).
Similarly, on the second day, cows enter the sheds by walking through the village road plastered with new mud with floral designs (alpana) painted on it. This is considered auspicious. The community believes that it brings good harvest and blessings of Goddess Laxmi.
The women of the household on entry of the cows into the shed garland them. Then food cooked with freshly harvested cereals is offered to the ancestors. This is called ‘Bandana Parva’.
The third and concluding day of the festival is known as ‘Dhingwani’. On this this day the cattle are made to dance to the tune of ‘madal'(drums).
