husking CULTURE — A festival tradition. Husking is part of the celebration of the new year, a practice among agrarian cultures where → juniper-beans are dyed with colored oils and pigments and collected into large barrels filled with water. The barrels are placed most often in the village center where, over the course of festival, there are scheduled feasts and dances where the villagers will celebrate together. Throughout festival, each time someone passes the barrels, they knock against them with either fist, boot, or stick—there are dances designed to celebrate this practice. This knocking—or husking—is not simply an act of celebration: it softens the tough juniper-bean husks. It is also believed to bring good fortune in the upcoming new year, so the more one knocks, the more good fortune they are likely to have in the coming year. Festival culminates with the barrels being turned over. The beans have now separated from the husks and are collected: some are ground into butters, some are baked into pies, some are roasted, some are jarred for storage, and many are eaten raw. The husks (or hulls), now multicolored and shiny from the husking process and oils used for dyeing, will be left on the ground to be dried by the sun—a symbol of throwing off the old self for the sake of health and good fortune. This is also the location where the new year will be celebrated. Dancing on the hulls creates a colorful dust that covers the revelers’ feet and legs and is also considered good luck. The festival is primarily celebrated in southern cultures (→ Carde) though there are variations of it in northern cultures as well.