Interesting facts about Janmashtami - Lord Krishna's Birthday

Lord Krishna was born approximately 5,200 years ago in Mathura. The main objective of Lord Krishna's birth was to free the Earth from the evilness of demons. His own uncle was a demon and he was going to kill him and end the evil world that prevailed😈 He played an important role in Mahabharata and propagated the important theory of bhakti and good karma.

There is a popular ritual of dahi handi, which is the imitation of the butter-stealing episodes of Lord Krishna.

 Boys gather together in a compound and form a human pyramid in order to break the earthen pot fixed at a height way above the ground. The boy who climbs at the top is called Govinda and the groups are either called handis or mandals. Many attempts like throwing water on the mandals is done in order to spoil their attempts to break the dahi handi.

As a young child Lord Krishna was an extremely mischievous boy. He opened fences to let the cows roam free. He stole food to feed to the ducks and monkeys. He sneaked into peoples homes and piled up their pillows, hid the jewelry of girls while they bathed in the river and lots more. He was kind at heart and never caused any harm. Just wanted to spread cheer and happiness.

Janmashtami or Gokulashtami, is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna.

It symbolizes the joyful innocence of children, that love and life's play is the manifestation of God. 

Lord Krisha was very find of butter and curd and would steal it from hidden pots which were hidden high up. Hence even today a pot 🍯 of Dahi is kept in a handi with a cash reward and a human pyramid is made to break the, dahi handi, just like Lord Krishna, what he would do to get to his dahi. 

A lot of countries outside India see a large number of devotees of Lord Krishna and this festival is also celebrated in New Zealand, Singapore, Malasia, Canada and a few more countries.

What we did to celebrate this festival. 

Made a Janmashtami card

Made a peacock feather 🦚

Prepared dahi handi 

Janmashtami related Treasure hunt. 

You can try simple activities at home with your toddler and let them enjoy and learn the importance of festivals.

Tell me what you like and enjoy about this festival in the comments below.