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Rut Raade: A Month Long Celebration of Renewal & Sisterhood

What is Rut Raade?

Rut Raade is a beautiful agrarian festival celebrated by Dogra women in Jammu from Aashada Sankranti to Shravana Sankranti (roughly from mid-June to mid-July in the Bikrami calendar). It’s a season-long celebration of life, soil, seeds, and sisterhood.

Rituals & Meaning

•Unmarried girls insert the necks of broken clay pitchers (called Raade) into freshly cleaned earth and sow seeds of Kharif crops like maize, millet, or sesame creating one Raade per brother, plus a central Dhamma Raada that symbolizes the eldest family member.
•Every Sunday, women gather to decorate these Raade with intricate rangoli like designs using natural materials like turmeric, brick dust, charcoal, leaves, and flour. They share traditional dishes like Rutt (a wheat-jaggery cake), Babru, Keur, Khamires, and more. Folk songs and bhajans are sung in praise of growth, protection, and community.

Raade Parvana

On Shravana Sankranti, the Raade are uprooted and carried in procession to nearby streams for parvana(immersion). Women sing, children join, and men help carry the bamboo baskets holding the Raade. The event often includes snacks like mangoes and fermented delicacies.

Why It Matters

•Agricultural roots:Originally believed to test seed viability and soil fertility before monsoon planting 
•Women-centric: A celebration led by unmarried girls and women honoring them as embodiments of prosperity and fertility.
•Cultural cohesion: A blend of ritual, art, song, and festivity that strengthens bonds across families and villages









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