Building Village Solidarity
Celebrating Togetherness: Respect & Tolerance to all Religions
To nurture children with tolerance and respect for all religions and strengthen solidarity as one family, Grama Deep made it a tradition to celebrate sankranti, Diwali together, visit mosque on Ramzan and churches on Christmas day along with volunteers, espescially children. They distribute sweets, share wishes, joy and happiness, cutting across the religions.
Kovvali Sankranti Celebrations
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Culture and traditions are the soul of a village. 2019 Sankranti celebrations in Kovvali village was initiated with fanfare on 13th January in its efforts to preserve rural culture and traditions ad continued till 16th January. Colorful patterns of Rangoli, early morning bonfire on Bhogi day, folk arts, cultural and traditional performances, stalls symbolising sankranti traditions, display of cattle and other domesticated animals, bullock cart rides, kite festival, nature walks, competitions and many more events mark the celebrations, conducted usually during 13th-15th January.
Since 2015, Grama Deep has been endeavoring to uphold the traditions, celebrating sankranti with great fervor and joy in Kovvali. The village comes together to celebrate the rich rural culture and traditions. For a village like Kovvali, predominantly, an agrarian economy, the festival is a time to celebrate the harvest, show gratitude to the domestic cattle and offer prayers to the nature for blessing them with prosperity . It has its own uniqueness as it ensures happy gathering of the villagers irrespective of class and caste and strengthens the village solidarity.
The festival is an occasion for younger generations to witness the traditions and our rich cultural heritage. To preserve and showcase the folk arts, sankranti traditions and village culture, Grama Deep has been empowering community and encouraging their participation with special training programs, especially in folk arts. The women and children have become active participants. Villagers living in various parts of the country and abroad started getting connected to the roots.
Witnessing the celebrations in state electronic media and social media, visitors from other districts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state were traveling to Kovvali to join the villagers in their Sankranti fest. Since then, Grama Deep started making special arrangements for such guests and is extending hospitality and care.