Sohrai

One name, two seasons. In Santhal Pargana, Sohrai is the great winter festival in January; in Hazaribagh and among the Kurmi and Oraon, Sohrai is the cattle festival the day after Diwali, when mud walls are painted.

Santhal Sohrai ke paanch din

1. Um — purification and worship at the jaher than.
2. Daka — feasts and visits to relatives; married daughters return home.
3. Khuntaw — cattle tied to posts and decorated; drummers play.
4. Jale — dancing from house to house, receiving rice and gifts.
5. Haku Katkom — fishing and crab-catching, then the final feast.

Sohrai painting

Women in Hazaribagh villages repaint their houses with red, black, white and yellow earth, drawing cattle, peacocks, plants and the horned Pashupati figure. With its sister art Khovar, it received a GI tag in 2020. Read Sohrai and Khovar: the painted walls of Hazaribagh.