For the last three days, the people of Orissa have been celebrating the Rajo festival - a festival for girls. During this time all women get to take a break from their daily work, including Mother Earth (there is no sowing or plowing during these days). Typically, families hang make-shift swings from trees and the eldest unmarried daughter comes out to swing on them. Girls of all ages are also celebrated with new clothes and sweets.
Like many cultural festivals, this one is laden with symbolism. Rajo means both dust and menstruation. So the idea is that during the festival the earth experiences her menstruation and then soon after the monsoon rains will come and she will become fruitful and fertile.
As we are on a university campus in a capital city, we have not seen any examples of these swinging girls. In fact, the campus has been pretty empty as girls returned back to their home villages for the festival. However, there is a cultural festival tonight. Details on that to come later.
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