Today is Basumati Snana, the concluding ceremony of Raja Festival in which Mother Earth is purified, like a woman after her menstruating period. It's another unique ritual of my place in which a symbolic bathe is given to Mother Earth, by keeping the grinding stone ( that represents Mother Earth) and other accessories and adorning it with turmeric paste, vermilion and flowers. The bathe is intended to purify the Mother Earth praying for its fertility to bring good results of agricultural activities in the upcoming monsoon season.
Our rituals are very powerful reflecting deep-rooted traditions and cultural pride, in which we first give rest to the mother and then pray her to rejuvenate, establishing strong faith in her - the soil from which everything is borne - we all have come from the soil and we will end up in the soil, isn't it ?
This concludes the three day long Raja Festival, that involved some nice time including some mouth watering food prepared by the lady.
This mouth watering cake had to be prepared with caution, using a proprietary method and I provided a helping hand to the lady.
She prepared the batter and asked me to ferment it for ten minutes. And then it was steam cooked after putting stuffs inside the batter and placing in that container, and cover it.
Kids love this authentic food but since all three days were supposed to be celebrated with good food, she also prepared food of their choice on demand - Chicken Biriyani and Chicken curry.
Again, she had to keep the restrictions in mind - we try to be moderate in keeping the demand of kids, you can't teach the current generation forcibly.
And I did bring her the Raja Pana (sweet betel) - a cherished treat that is available only during these three days.
You can't resist after seeing these ingredients being used to prepare that Raja Pana - now a days they sell several varieties of this, some with fancy aromas of sandalwood costing the highest. The ones I bought cost 25 rupees each, which was still at higher side, but since this is a part time business from which some people earn a living, people don't mind paying a little extra.
So this officially brings the Monsoon season at my place and respite from the scorching heat waves. I will now have to plan some preparatory activities for the garden - after all, staying close to the soil and farming has a whole different charm - only those people can understand who experience it.
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