Festivals of Assam
Assam Festivals
The richness of Assam culture and heritage reflects through the Assam festivals, which celebrates with great pomp and devotion. Assam is excellent, with green landscapes and hilly areas. The people engage with enjoy, vibrant and colourful on the festival days. Assam has different tribal people living in various regions. So every tribe uniquely follow their customs and cultures during the festival celebrations. Here are a few magnificent festivals narrated below…
Bihu Festival
Bihu is the famous festival in Assam. The festival occurs during the agricultural season. Culturally, the festival celebrates vibrantly, and the Assam people come together without thinking about their cast, creed, religion and social differences. The devotees worship their supreme God, Brai Shibrai and offer their first crop as a gratitude to God. They pray the God for peace and prosperity in the coming years. The celebrations continue entirely for April. The devotees wear the traditional Assam dresses and prepare bonfire feasts. They perform dance and singing to entertain the gatherings. The Assam Tourism Department organised the Buffalo fights, Rangoli Utsava and exhibited traditional jewellery.
Ambubashi Festival
This festival falls during the monsoon season, and celebrations are held in the Kamakhya Devi temple. The festival is celebrated for four days, and specific people practised that Goddess Kamakhya goes through the menstrual cycle for the first three days of the festival. During these three days, the devotees didn’t take a bath or prepare a meal; they spent by reading holy books of Hinduism. After three days, Goddess Kamakhya cleaned with milk, honey and water. Later the priests perform different rituals as a part of the celebrations. On the fourth day, the temple doors open, and devotees worship the Goddess for purity and prosperity. Much Tantric worship the Goddess and show their tricks to the visitors.
Majuli Festival
Majuli is an island situated in the lower middle of the Brahmaputra. This is a beautiful festival, and arrangements are held at the banks of the Brahmaputra river. Many ethnic and Cultural groups attend this fair and display their customs and faiths. The day and night culture activities were conducted with great enthusiasm. Many traditional artists and groups visit this place and perform the skills. The artisans exhibit a variety and skilled crafts at the fair. Wooden articles and potters are the main attractive crafts at the fair.
Dehing Patkai Festival
This festival is celebrated in January in the Tinsukia district. The festival adds an extra look to already beautiful Assam. The government of Assam organised the festival and hosted various cultural activities and adventure sports. This festival indicates to the people the urgency of saving elephants.
Ali Ai Ligang Festival
The festival symbolises brotherhood and harmony and falls on the first Wednesday of ‘Ginmur Polo’ or February and March for five days. Most of the festivals in Assam are celebrated by the tribal people. The festival is celebrated in monsoon-related cultivation. The festival is celebrated widely by the Mishing tribe. Here Ali means root, seed ‘Al’ means fruits, and Ligang means to sow. So the festival signifies the farmers planting the seeds in the fields. The Assasseme boys and girls wear colourful dresses and perform their traditional dance by the fluttering of hands and rapid steppings in the areas. A grand feast is also arranged with traditional dishes.
Dehing Patkai Festival
The festival is celebrated in January at the banks of the Dehing river around the package Range. So that the name Dehing Patkai is derived from the Patkai range and the Dehing river. The government of Assam celebrates this festival at a location of Lekhapani in Dehing. During the festival celebrations, the Elephant safari is the main attraction. The cultural functions, food festivals and crafts display are the other attractive events in the festival. Adventure sports are also conducted among the visitors.
Tea Festival
Assam is famous for tea-seeding crops. The Assam people celebrate this festival to glorify the tasteful tea production. The city of Jorhat is renowned for its tea production. So the celebrations are held in the town during November. The organisers serve varieties of Tea to the visitors, like white Tea, Black Tea, Green Tea and much more. The farmers exhibit the cultivated tea plants to show the pride of Assam for good tea crops. This festival celebrates for three days. During these celebrations, the visitors can taste the taste of the leaves.