The Bihu festival celebrated in the northeast of India welcomes the new season with traditional rituals, prayers, dance, music, and food. 

India is a multicultural and multireligious country. Traveling from one state to another change the language, local cuisine, everyday attire, etc. The tribes of India are varied as well. Towards the northeast of India is Assam, where people celebrate the Bihu festival with much fanfare. Like much of the farming culture in India, the new harvest season is celebrated across the country. In Assam, the festival is called Bihu; in most of north India, it’s called Makar Sakranti; and in south India, it’s called Pongal. Though the names are different, they all celebrate the new season by praying to the Sun God. The purpose and the deity are the same, but the rituals vary according to the region in which they are celebrated.

“The word Bihu is originally derived from the word known as “Bishu’, which means that people ask for prosperity from the Gods during important junctures of the harvesting season. Later on, the name somehow got distorted and the festival came to be known as Bihu. According to another source, it is commonly believed that the festival received its name from two different words, namely “bi” which means to ask, and “hu” which means to give. Both these words combined to form the name Bihu.”

Bihu Festival

The Bihu festival is celebrated three times a year. All these types of Bihu mark important phases of farming done in Assam.

Bohaag Bihu is celebrated for seven days in the middle of April. It is a significant occasion when the field is prepared for cultivation during the spring season.

Kaati Bihu in mid-October is to pray to the harvest gods and seek blessings to protect the fields and farms from sudden storms, harmful insects, and other disasters.

Magh Bihu is celebrated in mid-January to mark the end of the harvest season. The granaries are full, and everybody has enough food. The locals celebrate it on a larger scale, with families coming together for a feast and dancing. The importance of Magh Bihu is also connected to praying for fertile land and fertility in the community. All of this is depicted in the various rituals and prayers that take place during the festivities of Magh Bihu.

Rituals of Bihu 

The rituals for Bihu celebrations start early, with people cleaning their homes and wearing new clothes. The festival of Magh Bihu is for two days. On the first day of the festival, people throw useless items into a bonfire made of cow dung cakes as a symbol of the beginning of a new season.

“According to another tradition, young men of the villages make temporary huts from clay straw and firewood known as Mejis. Around the Mejis, temporary makeshift accommodation is prepared known as “belagar”. The families stay in the “belaghar” and stay up all night guarding the Mejis.”

A large community feast and entertainment programmes fill the night air as everyone greets each other. The next morning, people take a bath in the river and burn the “mejis.” Some burned pieces of wood are thrown on the field as an omen of a good harvest.

Bihu dance

In the Bihu dance, men and women dance together. Men play musical instruments, and women dance around them, synchronizing their steps to the beats. The beginning of the dance choreography is marked by the playing of a small trumpet made of bamboo, while the rest of the musical instruments are aligned with the singer’s slow-rising “taan.” After a while, the women in traditional Assamese attire enter from a corner, taking small presided steps. The women dance in simple formations. The dance steps have wrist movements, and the head leans to one side, which looks very graceful. The women perform the beautiful dance with their elbows bent and their wrists bent inward and placed on their waists. The dancers move in unison in a circle from right to left, adding a few variations whenever necessary.

Bihu dance costumes 

The costumes of the Bihu dance add colour and beauty to the natural ambiance. The main colours in Bihu dance costumes are earthy, light brown, and red. Both men and women perform the dance barefoot in honour of Mother Earth. Both men and women use wrist actions and heel taps to dance with the rhythm.

The men wear a “gamchaa,” or cotton cloth, that they wrap around their heads like a bandana. Sometimes during the dance, the men also tie their “gamchaa” on their waist or wave it around in jubilation. A t-shirt with a local Assamese print is frequently worn as a lower with a dhoti. The men also dress up their drums by wrapping a traditionally printed cloth over them.

The women adorn themselves with locally-made jewelry. They put flowers in their hair buns, wear shiny bracelets on their wrists, and light-weight round necklaces and earrings. Their make-up also includes red lipstick and a red bindi on the forehead. Women mostly drape a saree-like costume, which is actually a two-piece covering. The “chaddar” is stylishly wrapped around the red blouse, and the “mekhala” drapes the lower half. The fabric is usually made from silk, cotton, or muga silk.

As the dance is coming to an end, the tempo increases and so do the dancer’s feet. The melody of the flute fills the air with joy. 

Musical Instruments used in Bihu dance 

The musical instruments used during Bihu dancing are the flute, drums, and trumpets. The drummers are the most important part of the dance, providing a hard-hitting beat that fills the room with energy. The drum is twin-faced, and a minimum of three drums are definitely used in a performance. The flutes are made from bamboo, which is the most widely found and used component in Assam. Bamboo is used in the manufacture of stationary objects as well as as an ingredient in their local cuisine. Other instruments that are used during the Bihu dance performance are a dhol, taal, toka, xutuli, pepa, gogona, and baanhi. 

Bihu festival cuisine

The local cuisine is always instrumental in preserving culture and passing it from one generation to another. The recipes are made from locally grown food and drinks. The food we eat every day uses ingredients like rice, coconut, jaggery, sesame, and milk products. Though Assam is known worldwide for its tea plantations, during the Bihu festival, specific foods are cooked. Assamese festive treats include coconut ladoo, Ghila pitha, and Kharbooja ka beej.

References

Instruments Used In Bihu 

http://www.bihufestival.org/instruments-used-in-bihu.html