Pola
A bullock festival of Maharashtra and central India, when working bullocks are rested, decorated and honoured.
Also: Bail Pola, Pola festival
Pola, or Bail Pola, is a farmers' festival of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and neighbouring areas, held on the new-moon day of the month of Shravana, in August or September. On that day bullocks are not worked. They are bathed, often in a river, their horns painted and capped, their bodies decorated with colour, cloth, bells and garlands, and they are fed sweet food such as puran poli. In the evening they are led in procession through the village. In parts of Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh children have their own Pola with wooden or clay bullocks. The festival thanks the bullocks for their work in the fields before the main farming season ends.