India 8 – Hola Mohalla

Punjab, India, Hola Mohalla 2018 - turbans blue

A few days after the Holi Festival, the Sikh hold a three-day celebration of Hola Mohalla. There was very little throwing of powdered paint here.  Instead, the big event was a show of horsemanship, martial arts, archery, and military skills.

The Sikh are easily identified as all men must wear a turban. Many of the turbans were a bright blue, as seen above. We were told that a blue turban signifies a temple worker. There were a couple of Sikhs that had huge turbans (center image).  This Sikh had a cadre of other Sikhs following him, though I was not able to learn if the size of the turban actually has any significance other than for show.

Punjab, India, Hola Mohalla 2018 - turbans other

Turbans did come in a variety of colors. Our guide could not tell me if there was any significance to their colors beyond personal choice. Every so often, we met one that was overtly pro-American, such as the guy lower-right with the “4 USA” shirt.

Punjab, India, Hola Mohalla 2018 - transport

People arrived by motorcycle, in the back of trucks, tuk tuks, buses, on tractors, and on foot.  Each evening one small tractor would run down each road slowly spewing out a choking gas (center) that was intended to destroy the mosquitos in the evening. I believe it was Malathion, but nobody I spoke to knew for sure.

Punjab, India, Hola Mohalla 2018 - feeding the people

The Sikh tradition is one of sharing, and various groups set up free kitchens in the area for the three days of celebration, serving more than 10 million free meals.  The man lower-right is repeating a chant over and over all day long, saying in Punjabi “free meals.” The kitchens were very willing to allow me to photograph their progress, and I had to politely refuse free meals at every stop (American stomachs don’t do well with Indian food bacteria…).

Punjab, India, Hola Mohalla 2018 - horses

The highlight of the celebrations is a show of horsemanship skill.  Horses are galloped at full speed mere inches from the audience — the latter crowding in to see the horses come, then jumping back seconds before being trampled.  In order to get these images, I had to also flow with the crowd, and had to duck several times to avoid being hit by the spear the riders were carrying.  The spears were used to poke at a pile of grass tufts in front of the judging panel, to pick up and show off.  Many of the horsemen came around empty and tried again, while a few managed to have more than one tuft of their spear.  One old gent, who looked too ancient to ride, was galloping at full speed, proudly showing off the five tufts on this spear — far more than anyone else.

Punjab, India, Hola Mohalla 2018 - horses standing

As if riding and spearing the tufts were not enough challenge, several riders came through galloping while standing on the backs of two horses.  All the time, trying to wind through the organically flowing path through the crowd that opened at the last second to let them pass.

Punjab, India, Hola Mohalla 2018 - misc

Here are a few final images from the day.  The temple (upper-left) is lit up and looks like it belongs in Disneyland.  Before the horses started their hour-long run, a man warmed up the crowd on a motorcycle (upper-right).  After the horse run was complete, many of the horsemen waited around for photographers, some rearing their horses for display (center).

The photographs just can’t do justice to the speed and closeness of the horses to the crowd.  Watch this one minute clip to get more of a gut feeling for the field… though until you are there in person, you won’t really know what it is like!

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