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| BALI JATRA
OR YATRA |
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| Location :
Koraput, Orissa |
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| Famous as :
Tribal Fesitvity |
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| Time of the
festivity :
Kartika Purnima (November - December) |
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| Exactly on the dates of Karam
Festival, the tribal people of Koraput observe the festival of Bali Jatra.
Beginning from the eleventh day of the bright half of the month of 'Bhadrab' it
continues upto the full-moon. |
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| Beginning Of A
Celebration |
| The beginning of the festival
begins with 'Nuakhia' (first eating) feast on which new rice is eaten. The
festival takes the name for planting of various grains in the wet sand (Bali)
brought from a nearby stream and is placed on a structure called 'Bali Jatra'
or sand house. |
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| This is an occasion for a number
of other celebrations too. Men and women put on fancy dresses and rejoice with
drinking, feasting, dancing and singing. In some areas a swing is set up with
its seat studded with sharp nails and on this a 'Bejju' (witch doctor) is made
to swing. Goats, fowls and pigeons are sacrificed. The Bejju then walks on the
bed of live charcoal. He dances in trance for all the three days with
intermittent rest, during which he prophesize both good and evil portends to
grant boons to the people. |
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| Peculiarly, the ritual of swinging
on a seat of nails and fire walking is observed by the low-caste Hindus of the
coastal areas during the Pana Sankranti festival. It may be that the tribal
people have adopted the ritual from the Hindus, as such rituals are not in the
tradition of tribal culture. |
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