Phool Dei: Uttarakhand's festival of flowers to teach kids environmental conservation

Context

The festival of Phool Dei is celebrated in the Garhwal and Kumaun regions of Uttarakhand every year in the flowering season (March-April) for about a month.

About

About Phool Dei Festival:

The festival of Phool Dei is celebrated in the Garhwal and Kumaun regions of Uttarakhand every year in the flowering season (March-April) for about a month.
Children, particularly young girls, go into farms, forests and gardens after bathing and collect fresh flowers to offer to the local deities as a welcome gesture for the onset of spring season.
The local belief is that placing flowers at the doorsteps of houses for the gods will bring prosperity and blessings.
The groups of children, known as Phoolyari,bring flowers daily to the households and receive money and sweets in return from each family on the last day of spring.
This is the month when entire Uttarakhand is covered with a blanket of colourful flowers, mainly from peach, plum, apricot, cherry, almond, and pear and apple trees.

The red rhododendron flowers, locally called buransh (the state tree of Uttarakhand), is a spectacle in the season.
The yellow flowers of pheonly, scientifically known as Reinwardtia indica, are also common and used widely during the occasion, as are mustard flowers.