With 9 different grains & blessings: an unusual festival for women in northern India

Padugada village, Dhanbad, Jharkhand | Bharti Kumari

Karma and Jitiya festivals are very important to the Kurmi community. Unmarried girls pray for their brothers during Karma which is celebrated around August 11, while Jitiya, which is the occasion for married women to pray for the well-being of their children, follows 12 days later. An important ritual is the sprouting of nine different types of grain in an earthen pot. Then we fast the next day, cook up a fest the day after, and take it up to Tulsi hill to offer it along with our prayers. We are following in the traditions of our forefathers, who did the same by praying for our welfare.

This video was made by a Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Bharti Kumari. Community Correspondents come from marginalised communities in India and produce videos on unreported stories. These stories are ’news by those who live it.’ They give the hyperlocal context to global human rights and development challenges. See more such videos at www.videovolunteers.org. Take action for a more just global media by sharing their videos and joining in their call for change.

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