Garhwal and Kumaun regions celebrate Phool Dei to teach children to cherish and nurture the environment.
As youngsters, when spring arrived, we would get up at the crack of dawn to pick various types of flowers. The spring season is a time when nature awakens and revives after the colder winter months. New seedlings sprout out of the ground during spring, and hibernating animals awaken from winter.
Youngsters in Uttrakhand can be seen in the video scattering flowers around what looks to be a school building. Females wore the traditional clothes of their Uttrakhand region. You may also hear the kids singing a traditional local song from the area.
What is Phool Dei?
Every year during the flowering season (March-April), the Garhwal and Kumaun areas of Uttarakhand celebrate Phool Dei for roughly a month. Little children, especially girls, take advantage of the longer days and warmer weather by exploring farms, woods, and gardens in search of fresh flowers to present as a thank you to the local deities.
To appease the gods and ensure a lifetime of happiness and success, local custom dictates that flowers be left at the front doorways of homes. The children's groups, known as Phoolyari, deliver flowers to homes every day throughout spring and are compensated with money and treats on the season's final day.
Peach, plum, apricot, cherry, almond, pear, and apple trees, among others, provide a burst of colour over all of Uttarakhand this month. The state tree of Uttarakhand, the red rhododendron, is a sight to see when its blossoms bloom. Mustard flowers and the yellow blossoms of the pheonly, or Reinwardtia indica, are also prevalent and commonly utilised throughout the occasion.
In a roundabout way, Phool Dei celebrations instilled in us a deep-seated desire to care for and save our native flora and fauna.
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Bow (namaskar) at this threshold again and again, and may the households upon whom the flowers are rained be successful, affluent, and free from any strife.
The Phoolyari tradition calls for at least five different types of flowers to be left at each home on the last day of spring. Each household donates money to them in the hopes of attracting wealth and success.
They give the kids treats like papdi prepared from rice powder and flour and jaggery pudding. The celebration is also a symbol of communal unity and harmony.
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