Sair festival celebrated in Himachal Pradesh to mark the finish of the yield collect. Old folks say the extremely old Sair festival is celebrated primarily in the insides of Shimla, Mandi, Kullu, Kangra and Solan areas consistently in mid-September.
During Sair, local people beat drums and furthermore blow trumpets while offering their gathered yields to the Gods. It is believed that thusly, one could summon the energies of the Gods and look for endowments of mega crops in the following season.
Additionally, local people have prophet meetings wherein they evade fiendish spirits for guaranteeing the flourishing of their respective families alongside the assurance of animals and yields from any sort of regular fiasco.
Here the arrangements for the morning puja initiate from the prior night. In the puja makings, individuals add in their harvests which by and large range from maize, guava, lemon alongside wheat.
The next morning, a barber from the town visits each house conveying the symbol of Sair Devi and is given the season’s gathering alongside some cash. All things considered, the barber is then given some of the season’s collection and some money as ‘chadawa’.
A standard plate with six dishes is prepared during Sair celebration that includes Dahi Bhalla, Aloo Ki Sabji, Meethi Roti, Gulgule (singed sweet balls), Bhutoru (Seared Yeasted Bread), Kabuli Channe and Pakodu in focus.
In Mandi individuals celebrate with purchasing and giving walnuts to their friends and family, one can see the street sides brimming with merchants selling walnut in huge sacks. The traditions of playing with walnuts continues in the rural areas to this day.
Apart from this dishes like Siddu, Kachori, Childu, and Gulgule are made. Also, there is a tradition of taking blessing from elders, it is called ‘’Drub dena’’ in a local dialect. For this, the person giving drub takes five or seven walnuts in their hands and touches elder’s feet and then pass the drub to them.
In Kullu, that very day, individuals celebrate what they call as ‘Sairi-Sajja‘, A night prior, lamb and rice feast is ready for supper and the following very day of celebration begins with exceptional cleaning and pooja of ‘Kul’ Deity and preparation of halwa, which is then shared among the relatives.
For individuals of Kullu it is a period of festivity at the beginning of Shravan month. It is a celebration of meeting and seeing family members who are welcomed with ‘Joob’- a green plant, more like grass. Individuals take blessings from the elders while they exchange ‘joob’.
On this day fairs are held at different places and people participate in them enthusiastically. Drums are played and folk dances are performed. In Solan’s Arki, and Shimla’s Mashobra an exceptional occasion of bull battling happens (currently banned). On an average 50 bulls are gathered for the bubbly event.
Prior to these battles, the bulls are additionally made to drink liquor. Unlike Athens, here even the ordinary men are permitted to see the battle. The bull battle in Sair is effectively affordable for any average person as the section expense is insignificant.
However, in the present day most of the people are moving away from customs. Keeping up with traditions, it is yet celebrated with the same excitement in families and towns which have not yet been graced by the enrichments of modernization.