Sohrai Parba: The Festival of Santhals of Odisha

 

Santhals of the Mayurbhanj district look forward to the Sohrai cattle festival every year, which is also known  as Bandhana. The festival is celebrated with great gusto by the Santhal tribe in the districts of Sundargarh, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj and also by Santhals from the surrounding states of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.

For the tribals in Mayurbhanj district, the festival, coinciding with the harvest of early varieties of paddy, is significant. The Santhals celebrate the festival while other cultures worship Goddess Kali, one day after the new moon (Amavasya) and it lasts for a fortnight.

Steps of the Festival

The first step of the Sohrai or Bandhana festival starts with ‘Goth Puja,’ during which villagers give fowl and rice to the cattle. The deities are often served with cow-dung, sun-dried corn, vermilion, mithi (a kind of spice) and powdered corn. These are all set on a window and held in his right hand by a priest while he holds a pot of water in his left hand.

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