Ghetu Puja

Ghetu Puja is being observed today on Ghetu Sankranti in rural Bengal.
It is a traditional festival of rural areas. In the morning and
evening, kids come to every household with lantern, incense sticks and
Ghetu flowers to sing the songs of Ghetu. They collect small amount of
money from the household. It is the ritual of certain classes of rural
people.

Ghetu flowers are always bloom in the spring time mainly on the
roadside and waste lands. It is a white flower with sweet scent and
pink on the centre arranged in branched clusters. Hill Glory Bowed is
the common name of this flower. It's botanical name is Clerodendrum
Infortunatum. It belongs to the plant family Verbenaceae. This is
native to our region. We all know it by the names Ghetu, Ghontakorno,
Bhat and Bhaita.

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A. B.