Behdienkhlam
Behdienkhlam | |
---|---|
Observed by | Pnar people of Meghalaya |
Significance | Harvest festival Invocation to Gods |
Celebrations | decorations, dance, prayers, offerings, games |
2023 date | Sunday, 9 July |
2024 date | Monday, 8 July |
Behdienkhlam is a festival celebrated primarily by the
Etymology
Behdienkhlam is derived from two Pnar language words: "behdein" meaning "to drive away" and "khlam" meaning "disease". The festival was intended to celebrate "chasing away the demon of cholera" in response to the eradication of Cholera disease.[1]
History
The festival is celebrated by the
Practices
During this festival, men make a symbolic gesture of driving away the evil spirits and diseases by beating the roofs of house with bamboo poles.[2] The leading religious figures of the community known as "Daloi" perform religious rites with offerings to ancestors and clans. A ritual known as "Cher iung blai" is conducted where in the male tribal members enter a newly built thatched hut of grass and bamboo with spears and kill the demons inside it symbolically.[5][4]
A game similar to football called Dad-lawakor is played with a wooden ball.[3] Another traditional game played is the Iatan-Bhang, a tussle between two opposing groups of people over a large, stripped wooden log over Wah-eit-nar, a muddy trench with the participants smearing mud on one another.[3][2] The polished logs of wood and bamboo buildings are taken through the neighborhoods and plunged into Aitnar, a central pool of mud on the last day of the festival.[5] People dress up and dance to drums around the Aitnar. Women do not participate in the dancing and offer sacrificial food to the spirits of their forefathers.[3]
References
- ^ "Behdienkhlam festival, driving off cholera". Enroute. 27 June 2002. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ a b c "Behdienkhlam festival". Meghalaya tourism. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Behdienkhlam". Government of Meghalaya. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ a b "Behdienkhlam 2022: Date, history, significance and all you need to know about Meghalaya's harvest festival". Hindustan Times. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ a b c "All About The Behdienkhlam Festival Of Meghalaya". Outlook traveller. Retrieved 1 November 2023.