Khatarua is a festival of the Kumaon region in Uttarakhand, India. It takes place on the first day of the month of Ashwin in the Hindu calendar, usually around the middle of September. [1] [2] People light fires in the evening, [3] and children and adults gather around them, singing, dancing, and throwing bits of produce into the flames, most often cucumbers. [4] The festival is linked with farming life in the hills. Cattle sheds are swept out, animals are fed fresh fodder, [5] [6] and families use the day as a way to mark the end of the rains and the arrival of the cooler season. [7]