One of the reasons I moved to the mountains is not to feel the physical activities like routine work. Today was such a day when we decided to walk till another village to attend a village festival.
To get in the steps, I decided to walk and hike to this village. It was not just me but I had the company of guests who shared the same spirit. So, we walked almost 3 hours and hiked to this village.
It was the last day of their 3 day festival that started the day before yesterday. So, when we reached there all the Gods who were visiting the village were already coming down to another temple in the middle of the village.
Talking about the village, Barsheni village in Parvati valley looked so pretty with their wooden houses and the vibe.
Even their temple was so colourful. And the programs for the festival were in full swing when we reached.
First it was the procession of the Gods who were coming from one temple on the top of the mountain to the main temple which is inside the village.
On the way ladies waited to give incense and flowers to the God. They wore Pattu, the traditional dress in Himachal Pradesh which is handwoven clothing worn on special occasions.
At the starting of the procession, there were people dancing in special costumes accompanied by the pipes and drums.
The drape on the Devata aka God was also so pretty. I'm always impressed to see the fabric they choose for these drapes.
There were 4 devatas who had come to the village for this function and they came down one by one with the procession of people.
The ladies gave the incense and there was someone who collected it after their offer.
We also joined the crowd since there was no other way to reach the temple or we didn't know any better.
We once again passed through the pretty houses but this time we had to wait on the sidelines for the Devata to pass.
Once everyone reached the temple, their traditional dance called Natti started. It is a high spirited slow dance. It goes with repeated steps in round and round. People keep joining in and the circle becomes larger.
They keep singing and dancing at the same time and it'll continue till 12 or more at night. Everyone enjoys the Natti moments in their own ways.
There are pipes and drums playing in the middle which plays the music of the songs they're singing. They also make a special sound regularly to show how happy they are doing this.
All in all, Natti is something hard to explain and can only be experienced. After sometime we checked for food and we found some snack shops.
We bought the white sweet and it was really good. Very sugary but good for the high energy we need for hiking down and walking a bit more.
That was the end of the day. We got a cab on the way back which was the best option to reach back since the road goes through a forest area.
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