Tirupati witnesses brisk sale of white pumpkins during Deepavali season

White pumpkins in Tirupati for traditional rituals during the festive season, including breaking them to ward off the 'evil eye'.

Mounds of white pumpkins made an appearance on the roadside all over Tirupati over the last three days.

It is an ancient practice to fill pumpkins with vermilion and break them on the road to ward off the ‘evil eye’. The practice is extensively observed during the Dasara-Deepavali season spread over a fortnight. It is during this part of the year that the trading community cleans up their premises and performs the annual Puja coinciding with Deepavali-Amavasya.

Though Deepavali festival generally coincides with the new moon day (Amavasya), they fell on two successive days this year, i.e., Thursday and Friday (October 31 and November 1, 2024), pushing the traders into a fix over when to celebrate the event. Consultations with astrologers and priests led them to a conclusion of observing it on either of the two days.

The pile started melting, with the hot sale of pumpkins happening from Thursday morning till Friday noon, only to be broken on the streets in front of the thoroughly decked-up commercial establishments.

While prayers are performed to heavy machinery and office equipment on ‘Ayudha Puja’ day, the personal and commercial vehicles are water-washed and prayed on this occasion. Not just pumpkins, but flowers such as marigold and chrysanthemum also saw a roaring business this season, to be adorned to the shopping outlets and vehicles.