Indian traditional "Tahfu Day" custom

The first Sunday in December every year is the traditional Indian "Tahfu Day". The so-called "Dharu Day" is a festival where husbands beat up with sticks. It has a history in India for hundreds of years and is still popular in the rural areas of Varanasi and Patna in the northern states.

The

is located on a wide drying ground, where a dense crowd has gathered. The elderly are talking to each other, the young are chatting and laughing, and the children are playing and making fun. The atmosphere is warm and grand. In the crowd, a group of women were dressed up, and what was striking was that each of them held a stick in their hand. After a while, people naturally flashed out of a tunnel and a group of men walked towards the women. They were dressed in thick clothes and each held a shield made of cowhide in their hands.

The men came to the women, raised shields in their hands, sang and danced, and even made wild remarks and insulted the women. They were awesome. The women seemed to have not heard it and just smiled at you... The men gradually relaxed their vigilance. Suddenly, there was an order to "hit". The women, acting out of their usual style, surrounded the men and attacked them with sticks. At this time, the men had completely lost their former prestige. They huddled up one by one, raised their shields above their heads, and willingly accepted the beating. No one shouted, let alone resisted. According to traditional wisdom, only a man who is gentle and brave when beaten is a good husband, and a person who attempts to escape the beating is regarded as a coward.

"Dafu Day" activities often take a whole day. Not only do women love this festival, but men also attach great importance to it. On the day of the festival, the men got up early in the morning, showered and changed, and gathered together after breakfast, sang and danced, and went to the forest outside the village to protect themselves before being beaten. First, cut off the tree strips, tie them into shields, and tie them with cowhide. Then wrap your head, hands, arms and back thickly with cotton cloth. After everything was ready, he returned to the village and had a good sleep. When they woke up in the afternoon, the men drank a few glasses of home-brewed water wine to prepare themselves before being beaten, and then lined up to the drying ground.

After the "Beat Husband Day" began, a woman first beat a man (usually a wife beat a husband). As the cheers and cheers of the onlookers became louder and louder, they began to beat randomly. On weekdays, domineering men are beaten the most fiercely, and some shields are shattered but can only endure it. Although women beat men with sticks, people were rarely killed.

This is because there are several witnesses in the beating circle. Once a witness discovers that a husband has been beaten to the point, he reminds his wife to show mercy. Although his wife was often oppressed, she was not more at this time than her husband's fault, but was merciful and no longer continued to fight. At dusk, an elderly man (the oldest and most prestigious person in the village) announced the end of "Fahufu Day". Some wives even traveled dozens of miles to hire doctors to apply medicine to their men's injuries.

Why does

have such a "Beat Man's Day"? It is said that Indian women are oppressed and oppressed. They live at the lowest level of society. Theocratic power and husband's power are like heavy shackles around their necks, allowing them to vent their grievances one day during the year and teach them a lesson. It is also appropriate for the husbands who ride on them on weekdays.

Of course, there must be internal social reasons for the formation of this custom. As for the specific reasons, outsiders cannot tell.