The Rongali Bihu marks the agricultural New Year at the advent of seeding time
and is celebrated as the Festival of Merriment. Rongali Bihu (mid-April, also
called Bohag Bihu), the most popular Bihu celebrates the onset of the Assamese
New Year (around April 15) and the coming of Spring. This marks the first day
of the Hindu solar calendar and is also observed in Bengal, Kerala, Manipur,
Nepal, Orissa, Punjab and Tamil Nadu though called by different names. It's
a time of merriment and feasting and continues for several days. The farmers
prepare the fields for cultivation of paddy and there is a feeling of joy around.
The ladies make pitha, larus (traditional food made of rice and coconut) and
Jolpan which gives the real essence of the season. 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 April 14. This is followed
by manuh (human) bihu on April 15, the New Year Day. The folk songs associated
with the Bohag Bihu are called Bihugeets or Bihu songs.
The form of celebration and rites vary among different demographic groups.
Goru Bihu
The goru bihu or cattle worship rites are observed on the last day of the
year. The cattle are washed, smeared with ground turmeric and other pastes,
struck with sprigs of dighalati and makhiyati and endeared to be healthy and
productive (lao kha, bengena kha, bosore bosore barhi ja/maar xoru, baper xoru,
toi hobi bor bor goru—eat gourd, eat brinjal, grow from year to year/your
mother is small, your father is small, but you be a large one). The old cattle
ropes are cast away through the legs and new ropes are tied to them, and they
are allowed to roam anywhere they wished for the entire day.
Manuh Bihu
The New Year day, the day after the goru bihu, is called the manuh bihu. Elders
are shown respect, with gifts of bihuwan (a gamosa), a hachoti (kerchief), a
cheleng etc., and their blessings are sought. Children are given new clothes,
and Husori singing begins on this day, and people visit their relatives and
friends.
Husori
Village elders move from household to households singing carols, also in the
style of bihu geets, called husoris. It possibly derives from the Dimasa Kachari
word formation ha (land) and char (move over): hachari. Villages could have
more than one Husori band, and they would visit households in a village non-contiguous
to itself, first singing carols at the Naamghar. The husari singers then visit
individual households, by first announcing their arrival at the gate (podulimukh)
with drum beats. The singers are traditionally welcomed into the courtyard where
they sing the husori songs and perform a ring dance. At the end of the performance
they are thanked with an offering of tamul in a xorai, whereupon the singers
bless the household for the coming year. If there is a bereavement in the family,
or the family does not invite the husori singers due to an illness, the husori
band offers blessings from podulimukh and move on. Generally the singers are
all male.
Pat Bihu
This is a very old form of Bihu, characterized by spontaneity, popular in
the Lakhimpur area of Assam. According to legend, the first Ahom king, Sukaphaa,
traveled to the region to watch it in the early 13th century.
Mukoli Bihu
Young unmarried men and women attired in traditional golden silk muga dance
the bihu and sing bihu songs in the open fields. The songs have themes of romance
and sexual love, requited or unrequited. Sometimes the songs describe tragic
events too, but treated very lightly. The dance celebrates female sexuality.
Jeng Bihu
This is Bihu dance and song performed and watched only by women. The name
"jeng" comes from the fact that in earlier days women in the villages used to
surround the place of their performance with sticks dug into the ground called
jeng in Assamese.
Baisago
The Bodo-Kachari people celebrate for seven days—the first day for cattle
(Magou), the second day for man (Mansoi) and ancestor worship, feasting, singing
and merriment. Songs follow the same themes as the Bihu songs.
Bihutoli Bihu
The rural festival made its transition to urban life when it was first time
brought to the stage in Lataxil field in Guwahati by the Guwahati Bihu Sanmilani
in 1962, promoted by leading citizens like Radha Govinda Baruah and others.
Unlike the rural version, the dancers danced on a makeshift elevated stage in
an open area that came to be known as a Bihutoli. Many such Bihutolis have sprouted
since then in Guwahati and other urban areas. The performances are not confined
to the bihu dance form, but may incorporate all forms of theatrical performances
to keep the audience enthralled well into the early hours. Performances could
include standup comedy, to concerts by solo singers. The stage form of bihu
has become so popular, that organizers have begun extending the celebrations
to bohagi bidai, or farewell to the Bohag month, which are similar performances
held a month later.
Rongali Bihu is also a fertility festival, where the bihu dance with its sensous
movements using the hips, arms, etc, by the young women call out to celebrate
their fertility. In this aspect, the bihu dance can also be called a mating
ritual by the young men and women.
