Guwahati: The sound of dhol and pepa – a traditional musical instrument – is in the air in Assam as the state is ready to celebrate its biggest festival, Rongali Bihu, marking the Assamese New Year, starting from tomorrow.
The Bohag Bihu marks the beginning of the harvest season.
The Bihu celebrations in the last two years have been a muted affair due to the pandemic. This time, however, the government has allowed celebrations without any restriction.
The state has reported only a single Covid case in the last two weeks.
The week-long festival will be celebrated with music, dance, and new clothes but price rise has also been a big worry in the state markets.
“There is a hike in prices of Bihu items, it’s related to the overall inflation but actually, the local cloth weavers are still not getting a good price for their Bihu weaves,” said Vinod, a Guwahati resident.
“For the past two years, there was no Bihu, no Bihu workshops. This time 400 girls and boys have registered for Bihu training and we are training them on traditional instruments like dhol, pepa and gagona,” said Bolin Chandra Bora, a Bihu trainer from Guwahati.
The state government has also given ‘ Bihu financial aid’ to the Bihu organisers- a grant of ₹ 1.50 lakh to each of the Bihu committees that are over 10 years old.
The big-budget Bihu committees, with a budget of ₹ 20 to 40 lakh are also back. The price rise has led to an increase in the budget.
The festival is observed in Bengal, Manipur, Punjab, Nepal, Orissa, Kerela and Tamil Nadu through different names. On this day, farmers’ community thank the almighty for a good harvest throughout the year and hope for a successful harvest in the future too.
The first day of the bihu is called goru bihu or cow bihu, where the cows are washed and worshipped, which falls on the last day of the previous year, usually on 14 April. This is followed by manuh (human) bihu on 15 April, the New Year Day. This is the day of getting cleaned up, wearing new cloths and celebrating and getting ready for the new year with fresh vigor. The third day is Gosai (Gods) bihu; statues of Gods, worshiped in all households are cleaned and worshiped asking for a smooth new year.
The New Year starts with Bohag or Rongali Bihu. The word ‘Rangoli’ is derived from the word ‘Rong’ which means happiness and celebrations. On the eve of Bihu, women prepare Bihu delicacies such as Chira, Pitha, laru, among others.
The festival brings in singing and feasting and traditional Bihu dance is performed by men and women.
Goru Bihu
The first day of Rongali Bihu is observed as Goru (Cow) Bihu. This day is dedicated to worshipping, bathing, feeding, and taking care of the cattle, mainly cows, bulls, and buffaloes which most rural Assamese households have. Since these animals play a significant role in the daily lives of the people in rural areas, they are treated with extra care on this particular day.
They are bathed with a mix of “maah-halodhi” (black gram and turmeric paste), and softly whipped with “dighloti” (litsea salicifolia, a plant with longleaf), “makhioti” (flemingia strobilifera), “tonglati” (a plant with flower-like soft plastic butter-fly) to shoo away the flies. They are fed of “lau” and “bengena” (bottle gourd and brinjal).
While doing this, people sing the passage: “Dighloti dighol paat, maakhi marru jaat jaat, lau khaa bengena khaa, bosore bosore barhi jaa, maare xoru baapere xoru toi hobi bor bor goru.” It is translated as “With our herbs and the leaves of dighloti, we drive away the flies that disturb you. We hope that you accept our offering of brinjals and gourds, and continue to grow every year, and may you outgrow your parents.”
Manuh Bihu
The next day is Manuh (people) Bihu. It falls on the first day of the Assamese month of Bohag. On this day, people wear new clothes, enjoy traditional breakfast comprising of Sira (flattened rice), Doi (curd), cream, jaggery, Bora Saul (sticky rice), or Kumol Saul (a unique type of rice from Assam).
Some people prefer Akhoi or Muri (puffed rice) and Hurum (type of puffed rice). Assamese specialties, Pitha (made of rice flour with a filling of grated coconut and sugar or jaggery or roasted black sesame and sugar or jaggery) – Tilpitha, Ghilapitha, Tekeli Mukhot Diya pitha, Chunga pitha (made in hollow bamboo) and a range of Larus (laddoos) — Narikol Laru (grated coconut laru), Tilor Laru (black sesame laru), Sujir Laru (semolina laru) are staples during Rongali (Bohag) Bihu. These form an intrinsic part of the Bihu platter even during Bhogali or Magh Bihu celebrated in mid-January, another important Bihu of the Assamese people.
