If you want to experience the real colors of Assam then you should visit during festival periods. Assamese Bihu is one of the most important cultural festivals of Assam, The word "BIHU" is derived from the Sanskrit word Bishu, meaning "To ask blessing and prosperity from the Gods" before the onset of the harvest season. Bihu celebrates the change in seasons. It mainly caters to the agrarian culture and society of the state and marks the beginning of Assamese New Year and harvest season.
Three types of Bihu are celebrated during different time periods. Rongali or Bohag Bihu comes in April, Kongali or Kati Bihu is observed in October while Bhogali or Magh Bihu is celebrated in January.
Rongali/Bohag Bihu
Rongali Bihu festival is the time of celebration that marks the beginning of Assamese New Yea. It is celebrated over seven days. During the Rongali Bihu, Assamese people, dressed in their traditional attire such as Dhoti, Gamosa, and Sardar, Mekhele dance in a circle singing the Traditional Bihu Geet.
The Bihu festival commences with Raati Bihu when women Gather in an open field and celebrated around a bonfire.
GORU BIHU
GORU BIHU
The first day of this Bihu is known as Goru Bihu and usually falls on the last day of the outgoing year. On this day, farmers take their cows to a pond or river to bath them, later they apply Mah-Haldi of turmeric power and pulses on the animal and decorate them with plant things.
MANUH BIHU
The second day is Manuh Bihu when people wear new clothes and eats sweets to mark the new year. The third Gosai Bihu is the day of worship. On Kutum Bihu people visit Their relatives. Senehi Bihu is reserved for lovers who exchange gifts called "Bihuwan".mThe festival culminates with meal Bihu when people organize fairs.
DISHES PREPARE
Through the seven days, a variety of dishes are prepared and community feasts are organized. It is believed that it began when people started tilling the land in the Brahmaputra valley for sustenance.
Kongali/Kati Bihu
Kongali Bihu is celebrated during the Kati month of the Assamese calendar, which basically signifies the season in the life of the paddy crop when small saplings grow out of the waterlogged fields. At this time of the year, the granaries are empty and the peasants are rather poor, perhaps that's the reason behind this Bihu being called Kongali Bihu - Bihu of poverty. During this Bihu, the cultivators work day and night to get a good yield of the crop and on its eve a Saaki is prepared, which is a lamp. The lamp is lit because it attracts the pests from the crop towards it and they are burnt because of its flames. At the paddy field too a special kind of lamp is lit which is called Akaxbonti and peasants pray to their gods for a good yield of crops.
Bhogali/Magh Bihu
Bhogali Bihu which is a harvest festival and marks the end of the harvesting season is coming from the word bhog that is eating and enjoyment. It marks the end of harvesting season in the month of Maagha Jan-Fed. It is the Assam celebration of Sankranti, with feasting lasting for a week.
There is a lot of feasting and eating in this Bihu celebration as the field are full. On the eve of the Bihu, called 'uruka', young men go to the field, preferably near a river, build a makeshift cottage called 'Bhelaghat' with the hay of the harvest field and the 'Meji', the most important thing for the night, During the night, people prepare food and there is community feasting everywhere. The entire night is spent around the meji with people singing Bihu songs, beating dhol. Magh Bihu is celebrated at a season when winter is about to go. It is believed that the fire of meji burns the winter out.
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