Haryana Quiz: Costumes, Customs and Cuisine of Haryana

The traditional dress of a Haryanvi woman is made of three pieces: the daaman, a long gathered skirt, the kurti or angi, a short upper garment, and the chunder or odhni, the long veil drawn over the head and shoulder.

Pajeb is the anklet of the Haryanvi woman, worn with the kade on the ankles and the bichhua on the toes, and it was traditionally made of silver rather than gold because silver was within reach of a farming household.

Karewa, also called chadar dalna or chadar andazi from the sheet placed over the woman as the token of the new marriage, was practised widely in rural Haryana and is recorded in the colonial settlement reports of the region.

Bhaat is the gift of clothes, ornaments, cash and sweets that the mama brings at the marriage of his sister's son or daughter, and the ceremony of bringing it, bhaat bharna, is an event of its own, in which the family of the maternal uncle is received and honoured by…

Ghevar, the disc of fried batter soaked in syrup, is the sweet of the Hariyali Teej of Sawan, when swings are hung from the trees, a married daughter receives new clothes and sweets from her parents, and the women of the household sing Teej songs.

Panipat is the textile town of Haryana and the best known centre for the khes, the thick double woven cotton wrap used as a shawl and a bedcover, as well as for the panja durrie woven on the pit loom and for a large trade in furnishings.

Hansli is the heavy silver neck ring of the Haryanvi woman, worn with the kanthi, the galsari and the hamel, and it is still described in folk songs and in Saang performances as the mark of a bride.

Alsi ki pinni is made by roasting ground flaxseed, which is alsi, with wheat flour, ghee and jaggery or sugar and shaping it into balls; it is eaten in the cold months because it is held to give warmth and strength.

Gugga Naumi, also written Gugga Naumi or Gugga Navami, falls in Bhadrapad and honours Gugga Pir, revered as the lord of snakes and protector against snake bite.

During the nine nights of Navratri the unmarried girls of a Haryanvi household shape Sanjhi, a figure of the goddess, in clay and cow dung on the wall of the courtyard or the entrance, decorate her with mirrors, bangles and colour, sing to her every evening and at the end…

Bajra, the pearl millet of the dry south western districts, is the grain of the traditional Haryanvi kitchen: the daily roti is made of bajra or of wheat, bajra khichdi and bajra aloo roti are standard dishes, and bajra rabri is drunk in the hot months.