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Hareli or Hariri
Hareli or Hariri falls on the day of Sravana Amavasya. In
Mandla, it is celebrated on the new-moon day of the same month. The festival is major for the agriculturists of central India. On this day, all peasants and farmers offer
puja to their implements. No one works the whole day. Paddy seedlings are stuck over the doors of houses by Dewar priests in
Mandla villages.
Men go and plant green twigs in the field with certain rites, wishing to have good crops.
Anadai, the goddess of crops, is invoked to give them prosperity. Young boys give an extra touch to the occasion by display of walking and running on stilts. In
Malwa, the fair is called Harya Gondiya, with the difference that it is observed exclusively by women as
Vrat, in the month of Asadha.
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