There is a place in Rajasthan where men are not allowed to play Holi Festival, not just based on this 500-year-old tradition, men have to leave the village to allow women to stay and enjoy the Color Festival.
This town’s Holi celebration has a unique twist, and it is without…
Like every festival, people from all backgrounds gather together to immerse themselves in this Holi color festival. They threw colors at each other and splashed colorful water and wished them a happy Holi while joining themselves with Holi cuisine like Gujiya, Malpua, Puran Poli and the icy traditional almond drinks in Thandai. However, in India, Holi is not a standard celebration anywhere, except that it is common to throw colors in many Holi traditions in India. That being said, there is a place in Rajasthan where men are not allowed to play Holi Festival, not just based on this 500-year-old tradition, men have to leave the village to allow women to stay and enjoy the Color Festival.
The unique Holi Festival in Rajasthan
According to local stories, in the Donk area of Rajasthan, this tradition originated from the Purdar system, which allowed women’s visibility to prevent men from being present, so men used to volunteer to come out of the village to respect their privacy and allow them to attend the festival for free. This practice continues. But boys who are five years old can stay in the village, and boys and men above this age leave during Holi, and older men are no exception.
On Holi Day, at 10 a.m., people left their homes and moved towards the Chamunda Mata Temple in the area outside the village. After leaving the house, the man took the time to participate in fair listening to pious songs, for about five hours, while the village was only under the custody of women. The rule has so strict restrictions that men can’t even see women playing Holi. Traditionally, men found in villages during Holi festival will face physical punishment. Even though times have changed, violating this rule will still lead to serious consequences, including permanent deportation from the village.
In a unique twist, women occupy a central position during the Holi festival in Nagar Village, reveling in celebrations, giving up, dressing up as men, and enjoying the freedom of social norms. The next day, the men joined, the community celebrated together, applied colors and participated in a ceremony where women frolicked men, marking the end of a 500-year-old tradition that set the village’s Holi stand out in Rajasthan.
