Encyclopedia of Tours and Travel to Chattisgarh, featuring information on Fairs & Festivals, Wildlife, Excursion, Adventure, Weather of Chattisgarh.
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Fairs & Festival

Ganga Dashera
Ganga Dashera is celebrated on Bhim Seni Ekadashi. It herealds the sowing of Kharif srops. There are folk dances inwhich men, women, boys and girls dance together singing romantic songs. Liquor is taken by the dancers and this leads to spirited and vigorous dancing. It is especially of festival of rejoicing.

Charta
It is celebrated on the Purnima (Full moon day) in Paus month. At this period of the year, the cultivator has harvested and brought home his Agrsted and brought home his Agriculture produce. Every family has a sumptuous mid day meal according to their financial status. Children go out in the village and collect rice from every household. In the evening, the young maids of the village cook the collected food near the village tank or on the banks of river or rivulet and then they have a community feast. Charta is celebrated by all the commnities. It is essentially a festival to celebarate the harvest.

Navakhai
This is the festival which is celebrated by Agriculturists of all communities. When the paddy harvest starts, the new rice is offered to the family Deity on the Navmi proceeding the Vijai Dashmi. There is a religious ceremony and after this the family takes the "Prasad". After this the family starts consuming the rice. In the evening some communities perform dances and take liquor.

Surhul
This festival is celebrated when the Sal Tree starts flowering. Only some communities celebrate this festival. Mother earth is worshipped on this day. It is prohibited to plough the fields or do any form of digging of the Earth. Villagers go to the village "Sarna" (A small patch of forest within the village) and worship there. The Oraon community celebrate the marriage of the Sun God to Mother Earth.

Karma
Karma festival is celebrated on Bhadrapad Suklapaksh Ekadashi. This festival comes afterthe Agriculture operation of Kharif are completed. It is one of the main festival of all Koriean. After the completion of the agriculture operations, the community prays to God named "Karma Dev" for the bumper harvest. It also signifies a celebration after the hard labour they have gone through the Agricultural operations. Young boys and girls fast during the day and in the evening bring a branch of the tree "Karam Tree" and plant it in the varandah of the house of the head of their community. Java and wheat is germinated a few days earlier and the small plants are put in a small bamboo basket and placed before the branch of the Karam Tree. This branch represents Karam Deo. A lamp is lit and placed before Karam Deo.

Then they worship Karam Deo and ask for blessings. After this, the Baiga who is the priest of the village tells them the story of Karamdeo which is attentively heard by all. Then all return to their homes and take "Phalahar" diet. In the night young boys and girls dance the Karma around the Karamdeo. The dance continues till the morning and the following day. After day break, some boys and girl carry branch of the Karam Tree and visit every household. Every householder worships the "Mandar" (Big Drum). When the beats of the "Mandar" are fast, the dance become quite vigorous. The boys and girls are in a separate rows, facing each other. The boys ask a question in a song sequence and the girl reply in a song sequence and vice versa.

Saila
In the month of Aghan, the villagers go to the adjoining villages to perform the Saila Dance. According to Dalton, it is a dance of the Dravidian Community. The group of Saila Dancers go tup of Saila Dancers go to each house and perform the dance. They have small sticks of their hand and this stick is struck at the stick of the person dancing next to him. They move in circles in clockwise direction, then they turn around and move Anti-clockwise. The "Mandar" gives the beat to the dancers. When the beat becomes fast, the dancers also move faster. The sticks are once hit against each other when the arms are stretched upwards and then when the arms come down.

The whole movement is rhythimic and the sound of stick get blended into the beat of the drums. As the drum beats faster the dance becomes vigorous. The men wear Ghunghroos on the ankles. On their back, they tie the tail feathers of the peacock. It is a dance only for the males. The people dancing are given paddy by the villagers, which they take back home. In the evening the community eat and drink.

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