BY RIDDHIMA SEN
One night before Kali Puja, Bhoot Chaturdashi is celebrated in West Bengal. India’s own Halloween, the festival pays homage to the past, necessarily. The cultural roots pay respect to our forefathers. The special dish which is cooked on the day is ‘Choddo Shak ‘, essentially referring to fourteen kinds of greens which should be consumed by each and every individual. It represents our earnest respect towards our forefathers, or ‘choddo purush ‘. The fourteen candles, or diyas, which are lit on the eve of Bhoot Chaturdashi, and they pay further respect to the ancestors. Bengali folklore is highly rich in fables.
Shak chunni refers to a ghost or apparition of a married woman. Her long hair reaches the ground, from the topmost branch of the tree. Her ‘shakha Pola ‘represent her marital status. Next comes petni, an unmarried apparition of a woman. The most famous folklore is of the brahmodoittyo. The spirit of a brahmin once alive, it resides on a tree called ‘aswattha ‘. The rich folklore is explored in a specific book called ‘Thakumar Jhuli ‘. These stories form the basis of every early 2000s kids childhood , leading to a brain filled with imagination .
