Festivals are always special. As the seasons change same way the festivals also change as per the season.
Rain is very important especially for farmers. If it is delayed their life will get affected. So if rain is delayed, we have seen that in various places people follow various traditions.
One of them is the ‘Kara Hunnime’. So what is this Kara Hunnime?
Hunnime’ means ‘full moon day’. Kara Hunnime falls on the full moon day of the Jeshta month and is a festival that is most significant to farmers. People in rural areas say that Kara Hunnime, the first festival of the onset of the monsoon, is a festival that brings festivals. Kara Hunnime is a three day festival.
This day usually marks the first full moon day after the onset of monsoon rains. Farmers celebrate the festival by worshipping cattle and the day also marks the end of summer. With this festival, farmers pray for a good amount of rain for their crops so that they get a good harvest.
The festival is also a symbol of welcoming the Monsoon. On the morning of the Kara Hunnime, women collectively pray to the Peepal tree by tying sacred threads all around it. This is also called the Vatu Savithri pooje which is performed for the long life of husbands.
As part of the cattle worship, and traditional sweet delicacies are also prepared. Farmers wash their bullocks and decorate them by painting their horns and adorning them with hip belts and foot jingles as part of the worship.
The running race is organised during this fest with a large number of bullock pairs, and the pair that finishes first receives praise from the audience. If the bullocks that arrive first are a brown or red colour, then it is expected that the red variety of jowar will grow in plenty during the following season. On the other hand, if the bullocks are white in colour, then it is expected that the white variety of jowar will grow in plenty.
As soon as the Monsoon rains begin, the paddy farmers start farming again by tying yokes to the oxen for ploughing. Thus the Kara full moon is celebrated every year with great enthusiasm by the farmers.