Meaning Despite multiple names, Gangaur is a celebration of a perfect marriage, that between Shiv and Parvati. The name itself is a symbolic union – Gan is another name for Shiv and Gauri for Parvati. All married girls in same locality do poojan in their 1st first year of marriage. It starts from the day holika is burnt and continues for 16 to 18 days. One lady can’t do it alone. It is supposed to be done in pairs. Gangaur is largely female-centric, ladies pray for the welfare of their husbands and unmarried girls pray to get husband of their choice. The festival has a lot of religious importance to the people as Lord Shiva and Parvati represents perfection and connubial love. The rite way Typically, handcrafted idols of Shiv and Parvati are made from cow dung and ashes from the Holika dahan bonfire for the first eight days. Alongside this, 16 balls, each made from roli (holy red thread), kajal and heena, are made and kept for a puja. Wheat also plays an important role in the ceremonies; some grains are sowed in an earthen pot called ‘kunda’ and worshipped, while exactly seven grains of wheat are given to the women who preserve it carefully for the puja. (Pooja vidhi is given in detail in last section of this article) Day of the puja Ingredients required for the puja: some water in a vessel, a stick of turmeric, a silver ring (the latter two signifying Lakshmi), and the seven grains of wheat. During the puja, women sing songs in praise of Shiv and Parvati and unmarried girls and newly-wed brides (in the first year of marriage) observe the Suraj-Rota ka vrat (fast) for the Sun God. There is an interesting ritual that the women observe during this time –a small hole is made in a fried puri, which is used to look at the sun as an offering to the Sun God. This ritual is carried out with utmost care without exposing the puri to direct sunlight. This is done only on a Sunday (the day of the Sun God). During Gangaur, women eat food without salt once a day before sunset. Activities:- Each day all girl’s & women wear new traditional dresses with Mehendi in hands, and assemble at married women home. Then Songs are sung by all women the song is – Gor gor ganpati, iswar puje parvati, parvati ka aalaa gila, gor ka sona ka teeka , De Tamka de, Bala Rani vart karyo, khero khato laadu diyo, laadu le beera ne diyo, beero mane chunner di, chunner mane gor udai, gor mane suhag diyo.... bhag diyo... tan man 16, iswar gora, donyo joda, jod jawara, gefu 11, raani pujae raj ne, me puja suhag ne, rani ko raj tapto jaye, maharo suhag badhto jaye, idi khidi jaat de, jaat de gujrat de, gujarata ko paani, lele tapka tani, tani pe singhada, bhade pe pichoda, hari hari dhup le, doob ka dand le, soono ko kachoro le, suraj ji ko kero le, gangaur puj le, mharo bahi, em liyo, sem liyo, sarnari ki sem liyo, charjar ki jalebi liyo, ghi ka chata, ghewar liyo, imli ko chor liyo, naye odh liyo, gangaur puj liyo. Pooja vidhi Pooja Samagri: Idol of gaur, isar, kaniram, rova bai ,sova bai n Malan. Instead of their idol you can also draw a gangaur chart in a chart paper. (Gauri is isarji’s wife and kaniram, rova bai & sova bai are isarji’s siblings) 1 Plain white paper Vermicilli,mehndi,kajal,rice,moli,kodi,whole betel nut,a piece of haldi,silver ring,a coin,pot full of water,raw milk,a container to do gangaur puja,flowers,green grass (dub,janwara),comb & gangaur’s geet book. If performing this puja for full period of 18 days then 16 pindiya (8 balls made of holi ashes and 8 of cow dung) are required from the first day and 8 (16 for newly wedded women and unmarried girls) steamed or fried phal made of wheat flour are required on the last day . After doing pooja women have to first eat one of these phals with unsalted butter (Ghee) and sugar. Women cannot even drink a drop of water before performing this puja. Some women also observe fast on the last day of gangaur.