In a centuries-old tradition, people indulge in throwing firecrackers towards each other across the water in Dal Lake neighbourhoods, marking the winter solstice on 21 December, and the beginning of the 40-day harshest winter.
As the large crimson disc of winter sun descended down the horizon, the flames of hundreds of lamps brightened up the opposite sides of a small stretch of water in a neighbourhood within the Dal Lake.
Amidst the glowing flames and gusts of spine-chilling cold, a boy ignited a fire cracker and desperately tried to throw it onto the other side of the water stretch. After several attempts, Bariq Ahmad uttered a triumphant cry as his cracker landed among the crowd of people on the other side with a bang.
The peculiar scene is a common sight during the annual friendly fight called boube jung.
As part of the local tradition, every year on 21 December – the eve of winter solstice, like Ahmad, hundreds of people from the adjoining neighbourhoods assemble at a Miyan Shah locality of Rainawari in the interiors of the famed Dal Lake to mark the beginning of chillai kalan, the 40-day harshest period of winter in Kashmir.
The celebration begins with the lighting of diyas on the banks of the water body. After assembling near the shrine of Sufi saint Miyan Shah, the crowd divides into two groups. With each group stationed on the opposite sides of the water, the members engage in a friendly fight bursting firecrackers and yelling, shrilling and hooting at each other.
As soon as the firecracker lands and bursts on the opposite side, the other side that lobbed the crackers goes into triumphant jubilation. The annual friendly fight is called as boube jung or friendly fight in local parlance.
It is not only fire crackers, but hot embers, burning wickers and fire pots, people throw at each other whatever they can lay their hands on.
“We’ve been taking part in this tradition since childhood. It’s totally a different festival where everyone enjoys throwing burning objects and crackers towards each other. In the height of emotions, we throw whatever we can find, it can even be burning wooden piece or cardboard,” said a group of boys.
And of course they play it safe.
Incidentally, the day coincides with the urs – or the death anniversary – of revered 16th century Sufi saint Miyan Shah.
This peculiar tradition that marks the beginning of chillai kalan in the valley is attributed to the popular Sufi saint Miyan Shah and an accomplished Hindu sage. It is believed that both spiritual figures were bestowed with a lot of miraculous powers.
“According to a local story, a Brahman sage and Miyan Shah used to live on either side of the rivulet. As the temperature plunged to sub-zero levels in the intervening night between 21 and 22 December with the onset of winter solstice, the sage asked Miyan Shah for an escape from the freezing cold,” said Mohammad Maqbool Mir, an octogenarian from Miyan Shah locality while narrating the legend to Village Square.
“The Sufi saint threw a hot glowing ember towards the sadhu in an amicable gesture. It is believed that the sage felt an instant warmth all around. Since then the tradition of a friendly fight of throwing hot and flaming objects towards each other is going on for centuries,” he added.
However, it is not clear when fire crackers became a part of boube jung practice.
The day has tremendous social significance in other respects too.
The tradition of boube jung is celebrated by both the Muslim and Hindu Pandit communities in the area. Before the Pandit community migrated from the valley, members of both communities used to celebrate the event together.
“I still remember how the Pandits used to light diyas on the river bank. Members from both the communities used to throw hot embers at each other as a token of love and communal bond,” Pandit Kakaji Bhat, who used to live in Habbakadal, Srinagar before migrating to Jammu, told Village Square.
“We even used to visit each other’s families to celebrate the occasion. They used to come to our houses and we used to go to theirs. It was a lovely bond,” recalled Bhat.
Though the participation of Pandit community in the festival at Miyan Shah has diminished over the years, specifically after the exodus of the community from the valley during the nineties, the few community members who still live in the valley participate in the event.
Apart from strengthening the social fabric, the friendly fight turns out to be a treat for food lovers.
As the event is marked by some special local dishes, people from Miyan Shah and adjoining areas organise gala feasts serving nader gaade, gaade haakh and muj gaade to friends and family on the occasion.
According to Nazir Ahmad, a philosophy scholar from the area, the tradition of making a variety of dishes from fish on this very day in almost every household in the area is going on since decades and gradually the event has turned into a get-together for food lovers in the area.
The day is full of joy and merriment. While people celebrate the onset of chillai kalan, simultaneously observing the urs of the saint, the ‘gaade bate dawat’, fish rice feasts are too good to be missed.
The lead image shows people in a Dal Lake neighbourhood throwing fire crackers towards each other across a narrow stretch of water (Photo by Nasir Yousufi)
Nasir Yousufi is a journalist based in Srinagar.
