The musicians playing Pahadi songs | The villagers dancing to the song | The rice and the mutton curry

Festival with Shepherds in Himachal Pradesh

April 2021, Rakkar

About the event

We are living in Rakkar village near McLeod Ganj.

The village is celebrating Navaratri, around 40 villagers are attending the event which is celebrated once a year on a mountaintop above the village. We were also invited to join.

The video of the event I posted in youtube

The first half of the trek

The trek is not easy and it will take around six hours to reach the spot, which will be surrounded by snow-capped mountains. People of all ages including the grandparents, children, and couples from the village were on the trek.

Starting scene of the trek, you can see the sedimentary rocks on the side | We carried the sleeping mats and sleeping bags with us | When the rain started the goats hid under the trees

Everyone will be staying at the mountaintop for a night, we carried camping accessories, food, pans, etc.

After completing about half of the trek it started raining and we almost reached a place where the shepherds live.

Trek second half

We had food/prasad prepared for the event in the shepherd’s place and continued trekking after the rain was over. Everyone was in a festive mood.

We also carried a goat with us for the next day’s meal.

Villagers making food to distribute as prasad | Distributing prasad/food | Trekking with the food materials and flags

The next half of the trek is steep and is through the jungle, it slightly started raining again, but the trees saved us from getting wet.

Looking for the path in the jungle | Sight of the snow peaks from the jungle | A mother praying in the small temple on the way

After completing a few hours of trek we started to see the place we were planning to stay. There was a small temple/mandir where the event is supposed to happen, the villagers prayed and gave offerings in the mandir.

The Spot

On one side, there is a distant view of Dharamshala, on the other side, there are heavy snow-capped mountains. There is also a small mud hut on the top.

It was raining when we reached there, some people get inside the hut and others was setting up their tents.

There is no water source in the place, so we collected the rainwater in the pans. The goat was also inside the hut.

The tent and the snow-capped mountains | Repairing the broken roof of the mud house | The mud house

Night

Soon it becomes dark. The ladies took the upper roof of the hut, and the men were in the bottom. The cooking of dinner started inside the hut with the 2 temporary wooden stoves.

Cooking and partying

The night was full of fun, singing Pahadi songs, dancing, and cooking. There was a lot of alcohol also.

We had the food and tried to sleep, but it was really cold and our sleeping bag was not that capable of handling the cold.

Morning

The morning was more bright and colorful than I expected, the snow was more visible than the last day, and everyone started having breakfast and tea.

The morning view of the Dhauladhar mountain ranges

Making and distributing tea | Top view of the hut and tents | Cutting vegetables for lunch

We went for a small trek to the upper part of the hut and when we came back everyone started cutting vegetables.

Ceremony

Everyone lined up and started walking to the temple/mandir we saw yesterday. There were musicians also in the front.

People gathered around the temple | Alcohol served as prasad | The musicians played local songs

Everyone sat near the temple, played music, and did some ceremonies. We killed the goat, cleaned the goat, and carried it to the kitchen.

Food and dance

While the food was being prepared the people were dancing to the local Pahadi songs. The old people are the best dancers.

Cleaning | Cutting | Cooking

Prasad | Cooking | People having food

The food prepared was rice, mutton, dal, salad, etc. They use 3 stones as the stove and the wood as fuel.

We sit in a circle and had the food. It was really tasty and was one of the best food I had in my life.

Return

After the food was done, it started snowing.

The show covered path | More snow | Carrying pans and heading home

After the snowfall was over we carried the pans, and the remaining food and trekked back to civilization.