Description
Each year at the Dauji Temple in the village of Baldev, India, a remarkable event takes place as part of the continuing celebration of Holi.
At Baldev’s celebration of Holi, local women get an opportunity to taunt and humiliate the men by ripping their shirts off and beating them with them. The men tease the women by singing lurid song and throwing colored water on them. Crowds standing on the walls above join the hysteria by throwing colored powder.
A procession led by 14 priests arrives from the temple precincts. At the head of the procession is a man riding a phallic hobbyhorse accompanied by two men bearing tree branches. As the procession moves clockwise seven times around the temple, the women attack the men. At the moment the procession enters, the temple courtyard is flooded with water that has been dyed by soaking flame-of-the-forest flower petals.
Now given my last post and the conditions some women in India are subjected to at the hands of the men, I can only imagine what must be going through their heads. I can tell you the beatings the men get are real. The women have a good go at hurting them and no men are left untouched. I loved watching and joining in the celebrations.
