Social Folk customs of the Sonowal and Thengal Kacharis

by Suravi Gohain Duwarah | 2022 | 50,902 words

This essay studies the customs and folk traditions of the Sonowal and Thengal Kacharis of Assam—both of Mongoloid origin and part of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic family. These tribes possess rich customs, traditions, and oral histories. This study explores the similarities and differences between the Sonowal and Thengal Kachari tribes by emphasizin...

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Part 2.5 - Seasonal Festivals (of the Thengal Kacharis)

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The Thengal Kacharis of Assam celebrate several festivals all the year round. Each festival is celebrated at a particular season and at the time they have aside for this.

‘Festivals are a part of traditional culture. Their nature is determined by both season and religion. Further, tradition is never static. With the change in lifestyle of the people, customs and beliefs are also tending to get changed.’^[1]

As R.J. Smith has stated,

‘Most if not all of the societies of the world periodically set aside positions of time for celebration. These are moments of special significance of the group or community. They may be moments of transition from one season to another or from one stage of life to another; they may be anniversaries of historical events, of the legendary day of the birth or death of a hero or a god, be symbolic reenactments of events in the life of a religious leader or the founder of a society. They may be moments set aside to honour some living person or some group, occasions for communal work, with feasting and play added. These recurring moments of special significance, with the celebrations that fill them are called festivals.^[2]

Bihu, one of the biggest festivals of the Assamese society, is celebrated by each and every community living in Assam. The three bihus Rongali, Bhogali and Kangali or Kati is celebrated with great enthusiasm.

Rongali bihu or Bohag bihu is a spring festival and heralds the beginning of the Assamese new year. People of Assam come together on the day of ‘Bihu’, regardless of their caste and creed. The Rongali bihu is celebrated with great excitement, merry making and feasting is done on these days.

This is celebrated on the last day of the month of ‘Choitra’. The festival lasts for seven day. The first day is known as ‘Goru bihu’. On this day the cattle are taken to the nearest pond or river and bathed with turmeric, pulse paste, etc.

Two bamboo sticks are made and pieces of various kinds of vegetables are stuck there. This is known as ‘Sat’ and the vegetables are thrown to the cattle uttering the words below:

Lau kha, bengena kha

(have gourd, have brinjals)

Basare Basare barhi ja

(and as years move on, you too grow)

Maar horu, baper horu

(mother is small in size and father too)

Toi hobi bor bor garu

(but you become a healthy one)

They have the custom of tying the cattle with a new rope on this day.

Another unique festival of the Thengal Kacharis is ‘Tora chira bihu’ which is celebrated in the month of ‘Choitra’. The Tora Chira bihu is a pre-bihu celebration as Mukut Sharma writes in his book ‘Thengal Kachari Jibon aru Sanskriti’. The Thengal Kacharis celebrate the occasion of the cutting of Tora to prepare rope for the cattle in the Bohag Bihu. As there is a tradition of gifting the cows with a new rope, they celebrate the collecting and cutting of the tora plant as a unique festival.

The Tora Chira bihu starts on the second Wednesday of the Assamese calendrical month of Choitra. They have the custom of collecting the ‘tora plant’ from the jungle area by the young boys of the village. The female do not take part in the collection and cutting of the tora. When the youth reaches the jungle they perform another custom by offering oblation to some supernatural powers in the place where they search the tora plant. As the Thengal Kacharis are strong believers of the power of the evil spirits and super natural forces, they feel that whenever the evil spirits are satisfied, they are safe and protected. So they offer worship to the ‘Bon Debota’. The young boys then cut the tora plant and return back taking along with them whatever herbs and plants they find in the jungle. They also hunt animals and come back with great enthusiasm and delight. From this day onwards the boys start practicing ‘bihu dance’ in an open space which is named as ‘Dhuliya bheti’.^[3] The collected tora plant is then cut and split into pieces and then dried to prepare the rope for the cattle. The rope thus made is gifted by the Thengal Kacharis on the day of the ‘Goru bihu”.

One of the writer and scholar of the Thengal Kacharis, Hemanga Kumar Neog says, ‘The elderly persons of the village visit from one house to another to help the villagers in the preparation of the ‘tora rope’. They have the custom of serving the elderly persons with ‘xereka’ and khaji. The old persons enjoy the occasion and celebrate the festival of Tora Chira by singing and dancing bihu songs. The tradition of collecting and cutting of the tora plant is one of the distinctive festival of the Thengal Kacharis. Although this festival is in the verge of extinction but at present under the initiative of conscious people of the society, the festival is revived and from 2009 onwards there is a celebration of the festival publicly in Bihpuria of Lakhimpur district.^[4]

The second day is ‘Manuhar bihu’ i.e. bihu meant for human. The younger ones of the family show respect to the elderly ones. Several items like, pitha, jalpaan are prepared and all the members of the family have these with great joy. The festival itself is a very joyous one. ‘The young folks give themselves up to dancing and singing.’^[5] The dance which is performed in group, in the rhythmic sound of the traditional musical instrument ‘dhol’ and ‘pepa’ is ‘huchori’.

The third day is Gosain bihu this is celebrated by singing devotional songs in the Naamghar. The community celebrates the bihu by offering prayers to God. Devotional songs are sung by the devotees in the Naamghar like the other communities of the Assamese society.

Kati Bihu is celebrated in the month of Kati. This bihu is also known as Kangali bihu since the granaries of people become empty and people do not have enough to eat. There is also a tradition of planting a tulsi plant in the courtyard and ‘Saki’ is lit before the plant and also in the paddy field. The purpose behind lighting a saki in the field is to protect the crops from the insects and pests. This is a living ritual and is practiced by the Thengal Kacharis even now. Earlier this community had the custom of worshipping the ancestor in the night of Kati bihu with xereka and had merriment.^[6]

Magh bihu or Bhogali bihu is a post-harvesting festival. During this season the granaries are filled with the paddy and they have enough to eat.

Rev. Endle observed about the bihu of the Kacharis ‘For weeks previously the young people have been busy building ‘Bihu hut’ of jungle thatch, also in erecting tall bamboo, sometimes surmounted by ragged flags, white straw, thatch and other combustibles are piled up around these bamboo to the height of many feet.^[7] ‘For a month or two previously to this festival, the village boys and young people have had to guard the growing and ripening rice crops night and day and in all this likelihood this merry making, which is very much of the nature of a ‘Harvest home is largely an expression of their joy and gladness at being relieved from this hard and irksome duty.^[8]

Like the other group of Kacharis, this group also make a ‘bhelaghar’ and the young boys stay there. That night people gather to have a feast together. Another custom which is seen is the stealing of Jeura, hen, ducks etc. They do not treat this as an offence, instead this is considered as a matter of fun. Next morning the pile of woods gathered in the courtyard knows as ‘meji’ is burnt and the village folk bow down before the fire God to have his blessings. Ancestor worship is also performed on this day in the evening.

The customs associated with another festival ‘Na guj lua’ which is done on the very first day of the cultivation. ‘Lakhimi ona’ and ‘Lakhimi Singa’ is a function again related to the first bringing of the harvest to the granary. These two functions are conducted so that the crops would be healthy and yield good production. For this they have the custom of worshipping goddess Lakshmi at the entrance of the granary.

In the past, xereka, duck, pitha guri were used for the oblation of Lakhimi Goddess. But now-a-days sacrifice of animal and use of rice beer is very rarely practiced. Thus the study reveals that Thengal Kacharis are still trying to hold on to their tradition and customs.