Are you set to celebrate Bhogali Bihu in Assam?

Should you be in Assam in mid-January, you will have the chance to celebrate Bhogali Bihu, the harvest festival, in which the locals take part in great fervour, irrespective of caste and community. Women dress in mekhela chador, a traditional Assamese two-piece garment that looks like a sari and men don a kurta-pyjama or a dhoti.

Festivities, which last for two days (this year 14th-15th January), begins in the night when a festive dinner is held at a hut-like structure, called bhela ghar. The bhela ghar is constructed of straw and bamboo a day or two in advance. While in the villages, two or three communities may come together and build the bhela ghar in the rice fields, bonfires have replaced it in bigger towns, due to lack of space. 

Image by Debabrata Rajkumar

In the morning, after a bath, people burn the bhela ghar or meji, bow and pray before it. Various offerings—a mixture of til, raw rice and kali dal, petha and ladoos, betel nut, paan, and sesame seeds—are made to the fire god, Agni, in order that he may protect the people throughout the year and that nothing may be destroyed by fire. Post the burning of the meji, youngsters seek the blessings of the elders and a huge brunch is held with dishes like coconut peetha, coconut ladoos and sesame seed ladoos as well as doi chira (wet poha with curd and sugar or jaggery). People visit each other's homes and if you happen to be in one of the villages, you might be lucky enough to catch one of the bird or buffalo fights, a tradition passed down from the days of the Ahom kings' rule. 

While Bhogali Bihu is celebrated in January, Rongali Bihu takes place in April, during spring and the Assamese New Year, when people buy new clothes and celebrate with much dancing and singing. Kati Bihu or Kongali Bihu is celebrated in the month of Kati, of the Assamese calendar, and people light a diya every evening, for a month in October.