Every Indian festival has its own charm of festivity; the Holla Mohalla festival has no exception to it. In Holla Mohalla, people accumulate in Anandpur Sahib, and enjoy the day with singing bhajans and seeing the famous pegging competitions of archery, fencing, riding and traditional function of wrestling. Other than these sports activities, they also savor the taste of delicious langars which is organized by sewadars as per Sikh tradition.
Moreover, the Guru Granth Sahib is given the holy bath with milk and water after which kirtan and religious lectures take place in various gurudwara’s located in Punjab and various other places in India and abroad. After this ritual, Karah Prasad is distributed. Raw materials like wheat flour, rice, vegetables, milk and sugar are provided by the villagers living nearby. Women volunteers take part in cooking the Prasad and also cleaning the utensils. Traditional cuisines are served to the pilgrims who eat while sitting in rows on the ground.
The Nihangs are the highlights of this festival as they’re dressed in most impressive attire such as in deep blue robes with saffron girdles, high conical turbans decorated with steel rings, flowing beards, twisted moustaches and carry spears and swords as weapons for battle.
The other attractions of the Holla Mohalla celebrations are:
Wrestling: Started as a tradition by the followers of Guru Hargobindji within boundaries of Akal Takht Sahib and it is mostly his boost that wrestling as a sport made Punjab its birth place. Over 60 years ago, Grewal Sports Association had begun to give prices in this sport. However, today this sport is practiced in almost 7000 villages of Punjab.
The other sports activities on Holla Mohalla include Archery, Kabaddi, Weight-Lifting, Cycling, Football, Acrobatics and twisting an iron-rod by placing it on Adam’s apple, etc.
Thus, for all these games, various sports meet are also organized namely Kila Raipur Sports meet the Kalgidar Tournament of Kamalpur, Dhudike’s Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Sports Fair, Sahnewal, Mullanpur, Dahambo, etc are flourishing. Other than these there’re small sports meet such as, Lalto Kalan, Dhurkot, Rauni, Rurka Kalan,etc. . Locals however, like to size-up the skill and power of their animals by performing Bullockcart racing, Hound-Racing, Bull-Fighting, Cock-Fighting, Pigeon Fights.
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Many other activities such as music competitions are also held during this occasion. Music is regarded to be the soul of Punjab and this is why it is practiced in each and every part of the state. But only the best ones are remembered among which the famous competitions are held between Karamjit Dhuri and Jagmohan Kaur.
All these festivities come to an end with a day long pageant, which starts from Takth Keshgarh Sahib led by Panj Pyaras and passes through various important Gurudwara’s of the village.