Harela is a renowned Uttarakhandi festival celebrated in and around the foot hills of Himalayas to warmly welcome the rainy season every year. It falls on the first day of ‘Shravan’ as per Hindu Panchanga. Ten days before the actual celebration, seeds of either five or seven types of grains amongst Maize (Zea maize), Sarson (Brassica spp.), Gahaut (Macrotyloma uniflorum or legume), Jau (Hordeum vulgare), Wheat (Triticum aestivum), Traditional land race(s) of Paddy (Oryza sativa), Mass (Vigna sp.) and Bhatt (Glycine sp) etc. are mixed and sown in a pot or flat wooden pane called ‘chauk’ in darkroom. Water is sprinkled once or twice every day all along until the final worship day arrives. Besides this, gaily painted sculptures of Lord Shiva, Parvati and their offspring are also prepared for worship. Additionally, just a day before the actual celebration (i.e. last day of the month ‘Aasarh’) mock weeding is performed with small wooden hoe. Finally, the sowing is done ceremoniously either by head of the family or the family priest followed by placing yellowish-green shoots (called Harela) on ears and head.
The essence of Harela lies in the fact that it provides farmers with an opportunity to check the quality and/or flaws of seeds on small scale, which eventually helps them to plan a wiser strategy for mass scale cultivation. Owing to a lot of reasons the area under traditional crops is declining very fast but undoubtedly many of the crop varieties are still conserved because of their socio-cultural and religious values. The role of socio-cultural values in biodiversity conservation is an integral part of the people living in Uttarakhand and Harela plays a significant role in the same. This persuades people to conserve and manage their traditional crop diversity.
Probably, in every pahari family AMA-BUBU/IZA-BABU bless their kids and youngsters with the words ,”JEE RAYA JAGI RAYA, DUBE JAI PANAPIYA, SYAU JAI BUDHDHI HOO, SHERAK JAI TARAAN HOO, GAONK PADHAAN HAI JAYA..” .. I won’t be surprised if I have missed a few blessings here… :)
Despite globalization, there still exist many conventions and regulations set up by our past generations for the protection and management of handful resources. To a certain extent the present generation is going through the same beliefs following the ideas initiated by our ancestors for conservation and management of the resources that could lead to a greener ambience. My salute to the people conserving valuable germplasm in the Himalayan agro-ecosystems, this is certainly going to be ray of hope .
On kid's perspective:- A great benefit of this occasion is that it provides young dudes, like me :) with an opportunity to add a little more to their pocket money..for elders’blessings are accompanied by some money for sweets :) :)
Keeping the rapid socio-economic and cultural changes taking place in the society in view these activities need to be emphasized in detail. I am sure the effect of global warming is untouched or unknown to none.....it is high time for all of us to introspect our responsibilities towards greener earth !!!!.
At the end.. “Golu devta hun yauee prarathana chu “myor pahadu ko global warming se bachaya aur sada shukh samridhdhi banaye rakhiya”
