Khich Mavas: a Feast for Yetis and Dogs
Tonight
my family will be performing an ancient Kashmiri ritual. We are going
to offer food to the strange beings that dwell in the high mountains and
come down on this day to check if the truce that was offered by them
long ago is still being honored or not. Kashmiri Pandits call the night
called Khech Mavas or the Khichdi Amavas. On this day lentils cooked with rice are kept outside the door for the Yech to feast on. Yech is the operational word for Yakhshas, Nagas and Pishachas – the mythical ancient demi-god residents of Kashmir. Khech Mavas is a yearly reenactment of the peace treaty that was arrived at by the demi-god and the humans. Humans would offer Yech food on this day so that Yech would not bother them in the tough winters. Humans would draw a circle around their house, a circle that Yech wouldn’t cross and outside the peripheral door Khichdi would be kept. Locals would tell stories of a strange toupeed being that would visit each house to claim his food. It was believed that whoever manages to steal the golden topi off the Yech‘s
head stands to attain all the riches of the world. Children, a
bit fascinated and mostly terrified, would often try to sneak a view of
this super being, they would stay up late into the night, eyes glued
outside the window towards the door. Of course no one came. This was the
day of feast for dogs. Dogs traditionally have a claim on a
certain portion of Pandit’s meal – a Kashmiri Pandit offers Hoon Myet or Dog Morsel,
to a symbolic dog before commencing to have his meal. But on this day,
dogs were treated extra specially, even garlanded and then offered
food.*After fifteenth day of the dark half of the month of ‘Paush’, Yakshas come down from mountains and roam free in the valley of Kashmir. On this day an old treaty is honored. Rice is cooked with lentils and served to the guardians spirits of Kubera on a plate with cooked radish and some pickle.
Image: metmuseum
“In the modern folk-lore of Kashmir, the Yaksha has turned into the Yech or Yach [Yo’c’he], a humorous, though powerful, sprite in the shape of a civet cat of a dark colour, with a white cap on his head. This small high cap is one of the marks of the Irish fairies, and the Incubones of Italy wear caps, “the symbol of their hidden, secret natures.” The feet of the Yech are so small as to be almost invisible, and it squeaks in a feline way. It can assume any shape, and if its white cap can be secured, it becomes the servant of the possessor, and the white cap makes him invisible.”
~ ‘The popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India’ (1896) by W. Crooke
No comments:
Post a Comment