Gachhi date palm tapping

Gachhis are the specialists who prepare and tap date palms. Before winter they scrape the trunk, then each evening cut a fresh face and hang a clay pot beneath a bamboo spout. At dawn they climb down with the sweet raw sap, part of which is drunk fresh and the rest boiled into gur. The craft is passed down in families and is slowly declining.

Good to know

Watch at dawn in any village; raw sap can carry the Nipah virus, so prefer boiled gur over drinking unboiled juice.

• #craft
• #rural
• #winter