Antique Pola Festival Toy

Dimensions: 22cm high, 17cm long, 6cm wide.
Code: WOOD 0422

This joyful wooden bull was hand carved, and hand painted in the coastal state of Maharashtra in the mid to late 19th century. These wooden figures belonged to children who at the time of Pola festival would decorate them with garlands of beads and flowers and carry or pull them (often they had wheels attached and a length of rope) through their village.

Pola is an ancient thanksgiving festival that is celebrated in Maharashtra and some parts of central India, including Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It takes place on the new moon day in the Hindu month of Shravan (usually in late August/early September). It is a day when farmers acknowledge the importance of their cattle. Instead of working the bulls are washed, massaged with medicinal oils, and decorated with colourful shawls, tinkling brass bells and garlands made of flowers, beads, and shells. Their horns get a fresh coat of paint, and they get new hand-woven reins. The elaborately decorated bulls then take part in a procession through the village accompanied by music, dancing, and considerable merriment. The residents of the village welcome the visiting bulls by pouring water on their feet and giving them special foods. The following day is the children’s festival, called tanha or chhota Pola where the children of the farmers decorate the wooden replicas of the bulls and also visit the houses of the village to collect sweets.