Knowing Gorehabba: Indian Festival of Throwing Cow Dung to Each Other
- VIVA.co.id/Muhamad Solihin
India – India has a wide variety of traditions, some interesting and some very different, one of which is the Gorehabba Festival.
This tradition involves throwing cow dung at each other. Many Hindus believe that cows and everything produced by this animal is holy and sanctifying, and some people believe that the dung of this animal has health benefits.
In the village of Gumatapura, located on the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, locals annually commemorate the end of Diwali celebrations with a cow dung fight.
Festival Gorehabba
- National Geographic
These villagers celebrate what is called the 'Gorehabba festival'. The festival is reportedly over a hundred years old.
How is the festival celebrated? In the afternoon after the Diwali celebrations, the participants visit the houses of the cow owners in the village and collect their "ammunition".
The cow dung is then taken to the village temple on a tractor.
After the pandit blesses the village, the cow dung is placed in an open area, such as a large village field.
Afterwards, men enter the open pit and throw handfuls of cow dung at each other. Every year, people flock to this village from all over India to witness this festival.
Watching cow dung fights is said to have health benefits.
Mahesh, a local farmer says, "If they have an illness, then their illness will be cured (after being exposed to cow dung)," he said.
The Gorehabba Festival was even celebrated in 2020, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The local government has given permission for the event and people are participating enthusiastically, albeit in smaller numbers.
Cow dung is used for several purposes in rural India. Among other things, it is used as fuel and home insulation. A well-known engineer, Chetan Kumar said.
"Our village deity is Beereshwara Swamy, and we have a strong religious belief that God was born from cow dung as believers and to show our gratitude, the next day after Diwali, we celebrate the cow dung festival," he explained.
"The festival enhances the bond between villagers and has medicinal value and health benefits. It is celebrated while retaining the religious and medical benefits,"
Gummatapura and surrounding villages collect piles of cow dung from their stables and young men and women go from house to house to collect the dung as part of this ancient custom.
