Govardhan Puja is celebrated on one of the days of Diwali, mainly in the North of India in honor of the rise of Mount Govardhan Krishna. According to legend, the people of Gokul usually celebrated this holiday in honor of the God Indra and worshiped him after the end of the monsoon season.
One day, young Krishna stopped them from sacrificial prayers to God Indra, who sent a flood on Gokul in terrible anger. People were frightened that the rain was their punishment for disrespecting Indra. But God Krishna assured that no trouble would touch them. He raised Mount Govardhan with his little finger and kept people and beasts from the rain. After this, Krishna received the epithet Govardhandhari, and God Indra recognized Krishna's superiority.
Govardhan — is a small hill in Braja, near Mathura. On this day of Diwali, residents of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar build mounds from cow dung, decorate them with flowers and worship them.
This day is also called Annakut, which means mountain of food. Believers stay awake throughout the previous night and prepare 56 or 108 different types of food to offer to God Krishna. In temples, especially Mathura and Nathadwar, deities are bathed in milk baths, dressed in shiny outfits decorated with diamonds, pearls, rubies and other precious stones.
After prayers and worship, a variety of sweets are laid out in a kind of mountain in front of the deities, then believers approach the Mountain of Food and take some blessed food from it.