Next: around 14 Mar 2027
Phool Dei
Children in Uttarakhand lay spring flowers on every doorstep in the village.
What happens
Phool Dei is a spring festival of the hill state of Uttarakhand, kept on the first day of the month of Chaitra, in the middle of March. Children get up early, gather flowers from the hillside and go from house to house. At each door they scatter flowers and rice on the threshold and sing a short blessing for the household. In return they are given jaggery, rice and coins. The flowers are those of the Himalayan spring, among them red rhododendron and the small yellow pyoli.
The flowers
Original text by the Phool desk, written with AI assistance. Background: "Uttarakhand" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Reinwardtia: JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Rhododendron arboreum: Marcus334, CC BY 3.0, source
- Wild Himalayan Cherry: Patcharapapats, CC BY-SA 4.0, source