Jharkhand Festival
Jharkhand Festivals [edit]
In whole Chotanagpur Plateau Region, among the local people the Karam Festival is celebrated with great pomp and show.
Among the Oraon Tribe, the Karam festival is one of the most important festivals and holds a very important place in their social and religious life. It is usually celebrated 15 days after the Kunwaar-Shukl-Paksh. After the fixation of the date for the festival, the local population start their preparation; for instance, they start buying the culinary-items to prepare traditional dishes, new clothes for the occasion, etc. Besides, for the Karam-Puja, they buy oil, Sindoor, Daliya, et al. Being a very important community festival of the region, it is celebrated by the entire Oraon and other local communities of the region; now in its modern day re-embodiment, the festivity has spread far and wide, from the rural to the urban ambience, and from Chotanagpur to other parts of our country.
[pic] [pic]
1….Agni Dance- In the Rig Veda, Agni was described as the god of fire. The Agni dance is considered as the religious dance of Jharkhand. It is usually performed on the occasion of Bipu or Manda worship in Jharkhand. 2…Chhou Dance- It is one of the chief tribal dances of Jharkhand. This is a dance form that is performed in the tribal areas of Jharkhand as well as some parts of Orissa and Chhattisgarh. The Chhou dance is performed in an open space or a ground field, generally at the night time. The dancing area is surrounded by the fire poles called the mashaals, for the sake of lighting in the dark. But in some of the advanced parts of the state, electrical lamps and light have started replacing the fire poles. The dancers have a bath and perform some puja before their performance. This is for maintaining the sacredness of the dance, because the characters in the dance are of those of various Gods.
These dancers use colourful, big sized and decorative masks. Chhou dance is one of the tribal forms of the 'nritya natika'
In whole Chotanagpur Plateau Region, among the local people the Karam Festival is celebrated with great pomp and show.
Among the Oraon Tribe, the Karam festival is one of the most important festivals and holds a very important place in their social and religious life. It is usually celebrated 15 days after the Kunwaar-Shukl-Paksh. After the fixation of the date for the festival, the local population start their preparation; for instance, they start buying the culinary-items to prepare traditional dishes, new clothes for the occasion, etc. Besides, for the Karam-Puja, they buy oil, Sindoor, Daliya, et al. Being a very important community festival of the region, it is celebrated by the entire Oraon and other local communities of the region; now in its modern day re-embodiment, the festivity has spread far and wide, from the rural to the urban ambience, and from Chotanagpur to other parts of our country.
[pic] [pic]
1….Agni Dance- In the Rig Veda, Agni was described as the god of fire. The Agni dance is considered as the religious dance of Jharkhand. It is usually performed on the occasion of Bipu or Manda worship in Jharkhand. 2…Chhou Dance- It is one of the chief tribal dances of Jharkhand. This is a dance form that is performed in the tribal areas of Jharkhand as well as some parts of Orissa and Chhattisgarh. The Chhou dance is performed in an open space or a ground field, generally at the night time. The dancing area is surrounded by the fire poles called the mashaals, for the sake of lighting in the dark. But in some of the advanced parts of the state, electrical lamps and light have started replacing the fire poles. The dancers have a bath and perform some puja before their performance. This is for maintaining the sacredness of the dance, because the characters in the dance are of those of various Gods.
These dancers use colourful, big sized and decorative masks. Chhou dance is one of the tribal forms of the 'nritya natika'