Asma is in Class 6. She and her friends in the village are excited about celebrating Mahubuliya, the children’s festival of flowers.

At the end of the monsoon season in Bundelkhand, everyday for a fortnight, Asma and her friends pluck flowers from fields, gardens, and their neighbours’ houses and decorate thorny branches of the babul and ber trees. Colourful flowers - red hibiscuses, orange kaners, white jasmine, pink baramasi - bedeck the idol made out of prickly babul and ber tree branches. The floral idol sits on handmade rangoli drawn out by the children. At dusk, the procession of children marches through the village, singing songs, to make its way to a river or a pond. As the floral gods and goddesses float away, the children jump into the water and splash about. At the end of 15 days of Mahubuliya, the children collect money from their elders, pool it all together to have a smashing picnic.

Mahubuliya is a festival like no other. Its deities are flowers and nature and its sole objective is to have fun. If you don’t believe us, ask Asma!

Watch a short feature on Mahubuliya - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_lxW6PJ0xI&ab_channel=Chitrakootcollective

Reporting and Camera: Monika
Editing: Rachel and Pavithra

A Chitrakoot Collective feature