Festive engagement with ecology

The month of September unfolds the celebration of a host of festivals by people, irrespective of their religious identities and community status.

- PRADIP CHATTOPADHYAY

In West Bengal, the festive mood has gone high, right from the first week of September, packed with the promise of celebrations of several festivals.

The celebration of Karam Parav, a popular folk festival of the Adivasis and non-Adivasis of West Bengal, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Odisha and Bangladesh merits attention in this context. The Government of West Bengal declared a holiday on 3 September on the occasion of Karam festival.

Karam, being the festival of a multitude of Adivasis and other marginal groups of eastern India, also represents the ecological approach of Adivasis, showcasing the display of nature-culture interaction in their society at its best.

Karam is a popular harvest festival of the Adivasis. Those belonging to diverse groups like Santhals, Munda, Ho, Oraon, Baiga, Bhumij, Karmali, Kudmi etc., celebrate this festival. It is also celebrated by non-tribal Hindus of Bhojpur and Magadh regions of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. For the Adivasis, Karam-Devta stands for peace, prosperity, power and youthfulness.

It is observed on the eleventh day of the full moon (Purnima) in the month of Bhado (the Hindu month of August and September). The celebration of Ind festival is held on the 12th day of the same phase, on the next day of Parsa Ekadasi. However, the forms of celebrations of the Karam festival are modified to some extent by sectarian beliefs and customs of the locality, and differ a bit from community to community.

According to S.C. Roy, though the essence of celebration of Karam festival is to pay homage to mother earth for being bountiful and generous to mankind, the theme of songs and dances of Karam festival including its rituals vary from place to place.