Social Science Questions & Answers

What are customs and legends of Lohri? In the morning on Lohri day, children go from door to door singing and demanding the Lohri ‘loot’ in the form of money and eatables like til (sesame) seeds, peanuts, jaggery, or sweets like gajak, rewri, etc. They sing in praise of Dulla Bhatti, a Punjabi avatar of Robin Hood who robbed the …

What is the Significance of Lohri? In Punjab, the breadbasket of India, wheat is the main winter crop, which is sown in October and harvested in March or April. In January, the fields come up with the promise of a golden harvest, and farmers celebrate Lohri during this rest period before the cutting and gathering of crops. Significance of Lohri: …

The Orthodox Church uses the old Julian calendar which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. In the former Soviet Republic, the Bolsheviks adopted the Gregorian calendar at the end of 1917, which put them in line with the rest of the Western world. However, the Orthodox Church, opposed to the Bolsheviks trying to suppress religion, kept the Julian calendar. …

How to celebrate Diwali in Maharashtra? Maharashtra, with its major chunk of Marathi population celebrates Diwali in a special way that is quite different from Diwali celebrations in North India. The four day long Diwali Festival, in this state usually begins with Vasu-baras, in honor of the female cow, representing motherhood. The rituals of this day involves married women performing …

Tell about Diwali Festival? Deepavali or Diwali means “a row of lights”. It falls on the last two days of the dark half of Kartik (October-November). For some it is a three-day festival. It commences with the Dhanteras, on the 13th day of the dark half of Kartik, followed the next day by the Narak Chaudas, the 14th day, and …

Significance of Karwa Chauth: The fast of Karwa Chauth is of particular importance to all Hindu married women in India. They believe that the festival ensures prosperity, longevity and well-being of their husbands. The origin of this festival was based on a very sweet and noble idea. Though this idea has lost its true sense as today the whole outlook …

What is Dusshera? Dusshera, as the name suggests occurs on the “tenth” day following the Navratri. It is a festival to celebrate the triumph of good over evil, and marks the defeat and death of the demon king Ravana in the epic Ramayana. Huge effigies of Ravana are burnt amidst the bangs and booms of firecrackers. In northern India, especially …

Why Lord Ganesha Has Only One Tusk? Story – 1 Lord Ganesha and Mooshika Why Lord Ganesha Has Only One Tusk? Here are two stories of how Ganesha lost one of his tusks. Lord Ganesha loved to eat. One evening, having stuffed himself to capacity, he decided to take a post-prandial ride on his favored mount, Mooshika, a rat or …

Lord Ganesha Elephant Head? Story – 1 Shiva and Parvati How did Lord Ganesha obtain his Elephant Head? story is probably the one taken from the Shiva Purana. Once, while his mother Parvati wanted to bathe, there were no attendants around to guard her and stop anyone from accidentally entering the house. Hence she created a boy’s idol out of …

What are the rituals of Nag Panchami Festival? Nag Panchami is one of the prominent Hindu festivals of India. It falls on the fifth day of the moonlit-fortnight in the month of Shravan according to the Hindu calendar, which corresponds to July-August as per the Gregorian calendar. Historical records suggest that the worship of snakes was wide-spread even before the …