Theni:

All you need in this village to patch up with your relative after a quarrel or dispute is a gunny bag tied to your waist and a broom in hand. To signify this, a group of villagers gathered at the village square at Maravapatti near Andipatti in Theni district on the last day of three-day temple festival on Thursday.

As part of the festival, the bizarre ritual was performed wherein men lashed each other with brooms to shed their hatred and bury personal differences and bring harmony within the families.

T Govindan, a resident of the village, says this festival has been celebrated for many years to make life easier for women in their families. “Usually, troubles in families crop up between male members of a woman’s family and her husband, which later burgeons into bigger problems. By participating in this ritual, we solve and overcome these problems,” Govindan says.

The ritual was conducted after special pujas were performed to the temple deities. Brooms, both new and old, were bought and men clad in gunny bags braced themselves for the ritual. Some women poured water into the ground, making it slushy. Old brooms were rubbed into the slush and new ones kept dry.

“It is a tradition that you beat a person with whom you have some differences of opinion and restore your family relationship with him,” says Sankaralingam from the village. Amusingly, some men even invited their relatives to whip them with brooms.

Those who participated in the ritual will earn the wrath of the deities if they continue to keep their resentment against their relatives, he adds. People from surrounding villages came to witness the ritual. The festival ended with a feast and a show of bonhomie between the warring families.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Madurai /by Padmini Sivarajah / TNN / May 06th, 2016