A village in Jharkhand that does not play colours on Holi has decided to spread awareness about the environment during the festivity.

The Durgapur village under Kasmar block of Jharkhand’s Bokaro district has not been celebrating the festival of colours for nearly 300 years, but to keep up the festive fervour it has decided to organise a tree plantation festival on Wednesday.

“We planted four mango trees which are medicinal and also fruit-bearing on Wednesday. It was held in the form of community festivals in different parts of the villages and most of the families attended the plantation at one place or the other. We have decided to continue this every year during Holi as a symbolic gesture,” said Amarlal Mahato, 46, mukhiya of Durgapur village.

The village has 702 houses and nearly 7,000 residents, mostly the Santhali tribe, Kurmali and Muslims. Most of the villagers are dependent on agriculture and a few migrate to other cities for jobs.

“Mango tree not only absorbs more carbon dioxide than other fruit-bearing trees because of its large surface area but its parts are used in various diseases in Ayurveda. Earlier, we used to do the plantation during Baisakh month (April-May) but on popular demand, we have decided to do it on Holi,” said Mahato.

Elaborating on the villagers’ practice of not playing with colours on Holi, Mahato said: “It has been a tradition for ages. Almost 300 years back when the local king Durga Prasad Deo (king of Manbhum) and his family were assassinated by Padma (Hazaribagh) king Daler Singh on the day of Holi in the 18th century. The king was respected and looked upon as a saviour by the local villagers as he used to help the villagers. Since then the villagers observe Holi as a day of condolence, not a celebration. There is a belief that those who defy the tradition have been struck by the spirit of the king, facing unnatural deaths. There is also a belief that Baba Badrao (local hill god of the tribals) does not like colours and only like flowers and fruits.”

The village mukhiya said that a few animal traders from other villages had come to their village and celebrated Holi some 100 years back.

“It’s said that they died on the same night. Some villagers also died who had played Holi with the fishermen,” said Mahato.

However, there was no restriction on people going to another village and celebrating Holi, he said.

Most of the youths of the village go to their relatives’ houses in other villages to observe Holi. Durgapur village has nearly 12 tolas and comes underDurgapur panchayat. The panchayat has three revenue villages namely Durgapur, Rangamati and Kurku out of which Durgapur is the biggest and houses the panchayat office.