When Autumn Arrives In Kumaon, It Comes With Cucumbers And Singhal

In Kumaon, the end of the monsoon is marked by a cucumber in a fire. Around mid-September, as the rains recede and autumn approaches, communities celebrate Khatarua, a traditional agricultural and pastoral festival associated with the well-being of livestock and the changing season. Cattle sheds are cleaned, animals are washed and their horns decorated with ochre, while fresh fodder, salt and jaggery are offered to them. At dusk, bonfires are lit in village spaces, around which families gather with seasonal food.

The cucumber, or kakdi, has a particularly distinctive place in the festival. It is offered to the Khatarua fire and, in some traditions, smashed or eaten to ward off evil. Local folklore offers one explanation for the practice: a popular legend links the cucumber to a battle between Kumaon and Garhwal, after which victorious Kumaoni soldiers are said to have celebrated by sharing the fruit. Its seasonal context, however, is broader. Khatarua falls at a point when the landscape is moving from the monsoon towards autumn, bringing a new crop cycle with it.

From The Fire To Nanda Devi

Food around the Khatarua bonfire reflects this transition. Maize rotis are served with fresh curd, green chutneys and jaggery, while kheer and pakodi may also be prepared. Seasonal fruits and produce are shared as people gather around the fire. The cucumber, in particular, moves between the kitchen and the ritual space: it is both a familiar seasonal food and an offering.

Two days after Khatarua, another important Kumaoni observance brings seasonal produce into a different ritual setting. Nanda Ashtami honours Nanda Devi, one of the principal goddesses of Kumaon and parts of Garhwal. Celebrations range from household rituals to fairs and processions. The Nanda Devi fair in Almora, associated with the Chand rulers and the historic Nanda Devi temple, is among the best-known, while celebrations also take place in Nainital, Ranikhet, Bhowali and the Johar Valley.

Here too, food is part of the ritual vocabulary. Women carry offerings of seasonal fruits and grains, including cucumbers, corn, peaches and walnuts. In the Johar Valley, Nanda Ashtami is associated with collecting the sacred Brahma Kamal from alpine pastures, while roasted and pounded grains known as khajja are also offered.

The Food Of A Kumaoni Festival

The ceremonial repertoire of Kumaon includes singhal, puri, pua, bada, kapa, raita and khatai. Among these, singhal is particularly distinctive. The spiral-shaped sweet is made with semolina, banana, milk, curd, sugar and cardamom, and is associated with festivals and auspicious occasions.

The larger Nanda Devi fairs also bring the region’s food culture into public spaces. Aloo ke gutke, boiled potatoes pan-fried in mustard oil with jambu and dried red chillies, are a familiar Kumaoni preparation. Bhatt ki churkani uses bhatt, the region’s black soybean, cooked with toasted spices and traditionally thickened with rice paste. Bhang ki chutney, made with roasted hemp seeds, chillies, cumin and local citrus, is another characteristic accompaniment.

Sweets form another part of this festive food culture. Singori, made with reduced milk solids, coconut, and cardamom, and traditionally wrapped in aromatic malu leaves, is associated with the hills. Bal mithai, a khoya-based sweet coated with small white sugar balls, is another well-known Kumaoni confection.

What The Fields Have To Do With It

The connection between these festivals and food is therefore seasonal as much as it is religious. Khatarua’s cucumber and maize, and the fruits and grains offered during Nanda Ashtami, belong to a food system historically organised around the agricultural year.

Kumaon’s varied terrain produces a correspondingly diverse agricultural landscape. Irrigated valley fields support paddy and wheat, while terraced and more difficult slopes favour hardy crops such as mandua or finger millet, jhangora or barnyard millet, kauni or foxtail millet and maize, alongside pulses such as gahat or horse gram and bhatt. Dairy products, seasonal fruits and locally gathered plants completed this food system.

This is why the sequence of Khatarua and Nanda Ashtami is significant. One places a cucumber in a fire as the monsoon gives way to autumn; the other carries seasonal fruits and grains to a goddess. Together, they show how food, livestock, cultivation and ritual have historically followed the same calendar.

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