Colours become so spirited when the tribes play Holi to preserve traditions

Our festival of colours has arrived once again to sprinkle plentiful lovely hues all over. This is the time of joy and cheerfulness that we can share with each other to multiply our happy moments. Our motherland is a land of diversity where various kinds of communities live together with peace and harmony. There are different kinds of tribal clans and communities who are considered to be the successors of the primitive races. Tribal clans follow their age old traditional ways of celebrating the festival of colours.

We may find a few tribal communities who follow very unique ways of celebrating this festival

Holi of Bhil Tribes of North West India

Bhil tribes reside in Rajasthan and in Madhya Pradesh as well. They have retained many of their pre-Hindu customs. They worship their Goddess by lighting a huge bonfire on the eve of Holi. The blazing fire is their tribute to the Goddess. The Villagers bring kesudo and mango spring flowers and grains that all stands for new begging and new life. Most exciting thing about Bhil tribe is that they have a tradition of selecting their partners to get married on this occasion. So Holi brings lots of happiness for them.

Celebration of colours by the tribes of Gujarat’s various districts

Tribes who are residing in the Navsari district of Gujarat also celebrate this festival with lots of cheer. Holi is the biggest festival for tribal communities in Navsari, Dang and Narmada districts of Gujarat. Their celebration starts almost two weeks before the festival. They celebrate Holi with traditional dance and songs. A group of dancers practice and perform their traditional dance for this occasion.

Holi in Jharkhand’s tribal areas

There are few places in Jharkhand where Holi is celebrated with violence. Jharkhand tribes like Birhor, Asur, Birjia, Agaria, Korwa and the others residing in the remote hilly territories have their own way of welcoming the spring. Tribes are superstitious about their customs and they celebrate Holi with the colours of Blood to conserve their primitive tradition.  Tribes’ livings in Dhanbad, Bokaro or Netarhat go to the dense forest for hunting a day prior to Holi as per customs. They gather in the night and celebrate with dance and feast.

Durgapur Village Tribes (Jharkhand) do not play Holi

Tribes living in Durgapur village of Bokaro district of Jharkhand  do not celebrate this famous festival due to some unknown reasons. As per the old saga some devastating natural calamity took place in that region of Durgapur which is  situated on the bank of Khanjo River, between the hilly areas of Kashmar block They did not play  with colours since last 155 years due to their traditional values.

Holi celebration in the Tribal area of Purulia, West Bengal
Purulia in West Bengal is the land of folk culture of Jhumur, Tusu, Bhadu songs and the birthplace of a traditional martial dance of Bengal, Chhau. Tribes living here celebrate the season of colours with rhythm of Chhau and powdered colours or aabir. They throw colours everywhere and continue dance in a group.  So celebration of Holi is full of enthusiasm in Purulia with Dance and beats of drums and aaabir.