Bail Pola festival celebrates the bond between farmers and cattle

The Bail Pola festival, also known as Polala, is being celebrated across Maharashtra, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. This traditional agricultural festival serves as a day of thanksgiving to honor farm animals, particularly bullocks and oxen, for their essential role in agriculture and sustaining livelihoods.

During the celebrations, farmers engage in rituals such as ‘Baruvu Dimpudu’, which involves giving the cattle a holiday from agricultural work. The animals are bathed, decorated with colorful clothes, bells, mirrors, and peacock feathers, and sometimes taken in processions to temples dedicated to Lord Hanuman or Mahadev. Families offer sweets, such as puran poli, to the livestock and perform religious ceremonies like Harati to express gratitude for the bond between humans and nature.