As they walk, they sing folk songs and carry a ghudlia on their heads. The ghudlia is an earthenware pot with a candle inside. The pot has lots of holes around the body so that the light of the candle shines through.
In some communities, from the eighth day onwards, the statues that were put inside a basket are worshipped. The rituals include singing traditional folk songs, some of which are origin songs.
Gangaur is a spring festival, when devotees are celebrating new beginnings and hope for the future. Women pray for ideal marriages to the perfect man, just like goddess Gauri's to Lord Isharji. Hope for a good spring harvest is symbolized by the wheatgrass that is used to line the baskets in which the gods' statues are placed.
Yes! This festival is connected to the community's economic agricultural environment in rural areas and to the social environment, too. Women pray to the Goddess Gauri first for a good husband and for a long and healthy life for their husband, so they may have a long and happy married life, and second for a bountiful harvest.
