1 October 2026 · Blog
Sarhul: when the sal flowers, Jharkhand begins its year
Ask anyone in Ranchi when the year really starts and many will say: Sarhul. It falls on Chaitra Shukla Tritiya, when the sal forests are white with blossom. In 2026 Sarhul was on Saturday 21 March, the same day as Eid, and both were holidays in the state list.
The sarna and the pahan
Every Oraon, Munda and Ho village has a sacred grove of sal trees called the sarna or jaher. Nobody cuts trees there. On Sarhul the village priest, the pahan, fasts and worships at the grove on behalf of everyone. Among the Oraon, the festival is called Khaddi; it is also understood as the marriage of the Sun and the Earth, after which the earth can bear fruit.
Reading the rain
The evening before, the pahan places two new earthen pots of water in the sarna. In the morning the elders check the water level: if it has stayed full, a good monsoon is expected; if it has dropped, the year may be dry. It is one of the oldest weather forecasts still practised in India.
Phulkhonsi
The next day is Phulkhonsi. The pahan goes from house to house with sal flowers and tucks them into the roof and into people's hair. In return each house offers rice and handia. Until Sarhul is over, many families will not eat new fruit or use new leaves from the forest.
Sarhul in Ranchi
Since the 1960s Sarhul has also been a city festival. Processions from every mohalla and nearby village gather at Siram Toli and walk through Main Road with mandar, nagara and dhol, red-and-white sarna flags and women in laal-paar sarees. It is a statement of identity as much as a prayer.
Dates in villages can differ by a few days, because each village chooses its own day in the bright half of Chaitra. The state holiday follows the date fixed in the gazette.