Ghughutiya Tyar or the Festival of Ghughutiya

Legend has it that the crow has not always been an ugly bird with an annoying cawing. On the other hand, it is believed that it was once a very beautiful white-coloured bird with a very pleasant voice. The crows lived in the hermitages of the sages, who fed them fresh and clean food.

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One day a sage learnt of a pot containing amrit or the death defying elixir in the far-off treacherous hills. The place was inaccessible to humans . So, the sage decided to depute the work to the crow in his hermitage on a mission to fetch the pot. The crow was known for its sagacity and trustworthiness. Braving all odds, the crow made it to the location of the pot. The crow sipped a few drops from the pot as it was exhausted and parched from the long travail to the place. The crow returned from the mission and handed over the pot to the sage, who realised that the crow had partaken of the elixir from the pot.

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An enraged sage cursed the crow saying, “You shall lose everything you have — your beauty, your comfortable life, your wisdom, and your voice. Get out of my sight!”

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The bird, realising its mistake, pleaded for mercy from the sage. The sage modified the curse that it would retain its wisdom. In addition, the sage declared that in the sacred region of the Himalayas, people will feast them on account of its good deed performed in the Dwapar Yuga.

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The Dwapar Yuga arrived. It was the rule of the Chand dynasty, which was led by King Kalyan Chand. The king was finally blessed with an heir to his throne after offering prayers to Lord Baghnath at Bageshwar. The couple was blessed with a baby boy on the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti. The child was named Nirbhay (which literally means “the fearless”) and was affectionately called Ghughti. The boy was bestowed with many gifts including a glittering necklace of gemstones. The necklace was the prized possession of the child, who never let it part from him. Whenever Nirbhay cried, his mother threatened him that she would give the necklace to the crow if he did not stop crying. She said: काले कौवा काले, घुघुति माला खा ले (“Come black crow come. Eat the necklace of ghughuti."). The trick always worked. The crows gathered at the courtyard would be fed with crumbs of food by the mother. They always surrounded the child.

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The Chief Minister of the court was dismayed with the birth of the heir to the throne. He devised a ploy to get rid of the child by abducting him. One day as the child was playing in the courtyard, he was cajoled and taken to the forest. A crow, who was a witness to the incident, followed along. The other crows followed the child to the forest and started cawing loudly to deter the abductors. The crows started attacking the minister and his co-conspirators with their beaks and claws. The child also grew fearful and presumed that the crows had come to finally ask for his necklace. He handed over the necklace to the crows, who carried it to the palace. The necklace was recognised by the queen as Kalyan Chand and his horsemen followed the crow. The crow flew some distance and sat on a tree, under which Nirbhay was sleeping. The king got his son back to the palace and sentenced the minister and his co conspirators to death. Moved by the acts of the crows, the queen decided to hold a grand feast on the birthday celebrations of her son on Makar Sankranti. The crows were served with sweet cookies made of flour, which were strung into necklaces. The young child put on these as he fed these to the crows.

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The tradition of making ghughuts (sweet cookies) goes on in the Kumaoni households till today. The sweetened dough is twisted to give different shapes and the young children are seen wearing the necklace with these to the chants of काले कौवा काले, घुघुति माला खा ले (“Come black crow come. Eat the necklace of ghughuti.”) The crows are fed early in the morning as the kids compete to feed them first. It is widely believed in the hills that it is difficult to find crows on the day and hence a common idiom in Kumaoni goes: पुसुड़िया कव्वा न्यार के टेड़ी रिछे (Why are you acting snobbish like a crow in the month of Paush or January).