Bathukamma- This festival is celebrated by the women of Telangana during Mahalaya Amavasya or Bhadrapada Amavasya in the month of September – October during Navratri for a period of nine days.The first day is on Mahalaya Amavasya and the last day culminates on Ashwayuja Ashtami or Durgashtami two days before Dussehra. This day is called Pedda Bathukamma or Saddula Bathukamma. ‘Bathukamma’ or ‘Divine Mother Gauri– Life Giver’ is said to be the patron Goddess for women. Women dress up in traditional finery, clean their courtyard, use cow dung as base and decorate it with various designs of Rangoli using rice flour. For the first five days five small cone shaped lumps with cow dung are arranged in the courtyard. Men help in gathering various kinds of flowers including rare and wild flowers found in the various plains of the region. These flowers are decorated and scented and stacked in a conical mound with a lotus or pumpkin flower on the top along with a symbolic mound of turmeric depicting Goddess Gauri. In the evening women form a circle around it clapping and singing folk songs slowly revolving around in small steps. The songs invoke the blessings of the various Goddesses for the happiness, good health and prosperity of their families.
Boddemma-This festival commences nine days prior to Bathukamma festival and concludes on Mahalaya Amavasya. It is a festival for unmarried girls. The courtyard is cleaned and decorated with turmeric, flowers and Rangoli. An image of Boddemma is prepared in seven layers with earth in the shape of a Gopura. In the evening all unmarried girls sing and dance around it praying to the Goddess for an early and successful marriage.
Bonalu-This festival is celebrated to pray to Goddess Mahakali .It began during the period of the Nizams. It is said that during the outbreak of plague in the 18th century in Hyderabad, people prayed that they would instal an idol of Mahakali if the disease was destroyed and hence this festival is celebrated. Another version states that the Goddess returns to her parental home in the month of Ashadi and the occasion is welcomed and celebrated as Bonalu. Women and unmarried girls dress up in traditional finery dancing with Bonam (balancing pots) to the rhythmic beats of drums. Devotees offer a Thottelu or a small colourful paper structure supported by sticks as a mark of respect. The brother of the Goddess represented by Pothuraju is a man anointed with turmeric and vermilion draped in a red dhoti with bells in his ankles who dances to resounding drums and leads the female dancers to the temple. Streets are decorated with neem leaves and the Goddess is offered cooked rice with milk and sugar in brass or earthern pots decorated with neem leaves, turmeric and vermillion.
Sadar-The people belonging to the Gola caste or the Yadav community celebrate this festival on the second day after Diwali and it is also known as the Dunnapothula Panduga or the Buffalo festival. Buffaloes are decorated in festive colours, turmeric with bells around their necks and are taken around the streets. Competitions are held in between buffaloes and awards are presented to the owners of the buffaloes.
Samakka Saralamma-This festival is held once every two years in the month of February and is celebrated for four days attracting a large number of pilgrims to Warangal. Samakka and Saralamma are the mother and daughter of tribal Goddesses. According to legends they fought against the unjust and unfair rulers of the kingdom and are worshipped and revered to this day. All the tribal population gather together and offer prayers and Thulabaram (offering objects equal to body weight) generally of jaggery to the Goddesses
Bhimanna or Ayak
This festival is celebrated by the Kolam tribes of Adilabad and falls in the Kolam month of Satti. It lasts for three days. Bhimanna or Ayak is the principal deity of the Kolam tribe. He is represented by a carved mace of wood crowned with peacock feathers, a pot with a belt of bells or anklets and small dolls made of mud, which are stored in a thatched shed. On a holy Thursday these relics are then brought to the heart of the village. The deity is then bathed at a hill stream and brought to the enclosure and animal or fowl sacrifice is carried out and offered to the deity. The meat is then cooked and offered to everyone.
Boddemma-This festival commences nine days prior to Bathukamma festival and concludes on Mahalaya Amavasya. It is a festival for unmarried girls. The courtyard is cleaned and decorated with turmeric, flowers and Rangoli. An image of Boddemma is prepared in seven layers with earth in the shape of a Gopura. In the evening all unmarried girls sing and dance around it praying to the Goddess for an early and successful marriage.
Bonalu-This festival is celebrated to pray to Goddess Mahakali .It began during the period of the Nizams. It is said that during the outbreak of plague in the 18th century in Hyderabad, people prayed that they would instal an idol of Mahakali if the disease was destroyed and hence this festival is celebrated. Another version states that the Goddess returns to her parental home in the month of Ashadi and the occasion is welcomed and celebrated as Bonalu. Women and unmarried girls dress up in traditional finery dancing with Bonam (balancing pots) to the rhythmic beats of drums. Devotees offer a Thottelu or a small colourful paper structure supported by sticks as a mark of respect. The brother of the Goddess represented by Pothuraju is a man anointed with turmeric and vermilion draped in a red dhoti with bells in his ankles who dances to resounding drums and leads the female dancers to the temple. Streets are decorated with neem leaves and the Goddess is offered cooked rice with milk and sugar in brass or earthern pots decorated with neem leaves, turmeric and vermillion.
Sadar-The people belonging to the Gola caste or the Yadav community celebrate this festival on the second day after Diwali and it is also known as the Dunnapothula Panduga or the Buffalo festival. Buffaloes are decorated in festive colours, turmeric with bells around their necks and are taken around the streets. Competitions are held in between buffaloes and awards are presented to the owners of the buffaloes.
Samakka Saralamma-This festival is held once every two years in the month of February and is celebrated for four days attracting a large number of pilgrims to Warangal. Samakka and Saralamma are the mother and daughter of tribal Goddesses. According to legends they fought against the unjust and unfair rulers of the kingdom and are worshipped and revered to this day. All the tribal population gather together and offer prayers and Thulabaram (offering objects equal to body weight) generally of jaggery to the Goddesses
Bhimanna or Ayak
This festival is celebrated by the Kolam tribes of Adilabad and falls in the Kolam month of Satti. It lasts for three days. Bhimanna or Ayak is the principal deity of the Kolam tribe. He is represented by a carved mace of wood crowned with peacock feathers, a pot with a belt of bells or anklets and small dolls made of mud, which are stored in a thatched shed. On a holy Thursday these relics are then brought to the heart of the village. The deity is then bathed at a hill stream and brought to the enclosure and animal or fowl sacrifice is carried out and offered to the deity. The meat is then cooked and offered to everyone.