बोहाग बिहू

The tradition & historical record

Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu also called Saat Bihu (seven Bihus) is a traditional ethnic festival celebrated in the Northeastern Indian state of Assam and other parts of Northeastern India by the indigenous ethnic groups of Assam, and marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year. The festival is of mostly aboriginal origin comprising Tibeto-Burman and Tai elements. It usually falls in the 2nd week of April, historically signifying the time of harvest. Every year it falls on the 14th day of April. The holiday unites the different native communities of Assam regardless of their backgrounds and promotes the celebration of ethnic diversity. Rongali Utsav is a festival organised in Guwahati every year. The festival showcases tribal culture of Assam to the world. In Assam locally the onset of 'Bohag' (Assamese Calendar) marks the starting of Rongali Bihu. The three primary types of Bihu are Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu, Kati Bihu or Kongali Bihu, and Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu. Each festival historically recognizes a different agricultural cycle of the paddy crops. During Rongali Bihu there are 7 pinnacle phases: 'Sot', 'Raati', 'Goru', 'Manuh', 'Kutum', 'Mela' and 'Sera'. ¹

Raati Bihu: This phase begins on the first night of the month of Sot and lasts till Uruka. This phase was usually performed beneath an ancient tree or in an open field illuminated by burning torches. It was celebrated in the villages and was meant as a gathering for the local women. The participation of men was mostly ceremonial where they played a pepa i.e. a buffalo hornpipe. Another notable musical instrument played in this phase was the bholuka baanhor toka which is a split bamboo musical instrument. Sot Bihu: Also called Bali Husori, this phase begins on the second day of the month of Sot Mah. On this day Bihu songs and dances are organized by the young at outdoor locations, fields or a naamghor bakori (yard of community prayer hall) till the occurrence of Uruka, the formal beginning of Rongali Bihu. ¹

Goru Bihu: This phase is related to the agricultural roots of Assam and the reverence of livestock which provided an ancient method of livelihood. On the last date of Sot month i.e. the first day of Rongali Bihu is dedicated to the caring upkeep of livestock and a cattle show. Typically the collective cattle of a village are brought to a water source like a pond or a river. The cattle are washed with a combination of symbolic herbs: maah-halodhi (black gram and turmeric paste), whipped dighloti (litsea salicifolia, a plant with long leaf), makhioti (flemingia strobilifera, tonglati (a plant with flower like soft plastic butter-fly) and pieces of lau (bottle gourd) and bengena (brinjal). People sing the following passage: "Dighloti dighal paat, maakhi marru jaat jaat; lau khaa bengena khaa, bosore bosore bardhi jaa, maare xaru baapere xoru toi hobi bor bor goru". ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Bohag Bihu”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Bohag Bihu is festival celebrated in Assam, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²