Baha festival
The Baha festival is next to the Sohrai festival , a harvest festival, one of the most important festivals of the Santal . The Santal is celebrated annually in all parishes, the date varies. Individual villages and communities celebrate the festival on different days between the new moon and full moon of the month of Phagun . The name of the festival is derived from the Santal word for flower, Baha.
Meaning and course of the festival
The Baha festival is of great religious importance. It celebrates man's connection with nature and is celebrated at the beginning of spring. In connection with this festival, Baha stands not only for flowers, but also figuratively for virgins. The green of nature in spring is equated with a holy virgin. Before this festival, it is not customary for the Santals to pick blossoms, leaves or any fruit from the trees. At the festival, on the other hand, the men and women of the people adorn themselves with the flowers of the sal tree . These are collected by young men from the villages in the forest and distributed by a priest. A young man walking behind the priest is distributing water from a clay jug. More sage flowers are spread on the roofs of the houses, which is a signal that the real celebrations can begin with dancing and alcohol. Separately from the women, the men dance a row dance called “Jathur don”, where “don” stands for a jumping movement of escape.
The festival is celebrated over two to four days. The first day is called at maha, translated bathing day. The second day, called sardi maha (actually first day), is dedicated to religious rituals and traditional dance. During sendra maha , the third day of the festival, baha dak (Baha water) is distributed and a cultural program takes place. The boys in the village go hunting - “sendra maha” means hunting day. The last day of the festival is called jale maha , the end of the festival. The day after the Baha festival is called "baha baskey", which means roughly "one night old". On this day, some villagers splash each other with water for fun.
literature
PC Hembram: Sari-Sarna (Santhal Religion) . Mittal Publications, Delhi 1988, ISBN 81-7099-044-0 , pp. 44 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Boro Baski: Baha Parab. In: Village Development India. Retrieved November 23, 2018 .
- ^ Baha festival . In: DISH-HUDISH . March 2, 2018 ( wordpress.com [accessed November 22, 2018]).