People in Assam celebrate spring festival in mid-April. It is the biggest festival known as Rongali Bihu or Bohag Bihu.
By Mithu Das April 15, 2017
When spring arrives, it makes everything anew—the weather becomes warmer, trees grow new leaves and flowers appear, animals wake up from hibernation, and birds migrate to warmer regions—in Shakespeare's language: When proud-pied April, dress’d in all his trim, / Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing.
Spring is celebrated in many cultures with festivals. Some of these festivals are closely associated with sowing of crops. People in Assam celebrate spring festival in mid-April. It is the biggest festival known as Rongali Bihu or Bohag Bihu which starts on the last day of Assamese calendar year (or, on the 13th or 14th April) and continues till the second week of the new year. Traditionally, in this bihu festival people buy new cloths for themselves and for their families and friends; enjoy food and different kinds of sweets made with rice, milk, jaggery and coconut; and perform Bihu dance in their neighbourhoods. Sadly, Bihu is sometimes proved to be amazingly expensive for poor people. Many poor people can't afford to buy new clothes or other necessary food items for Bihu festivals. Now the situation is even getting worse due to high price rise of essential commodities.
Bihu dance is a popular folk dance which is widely performed by lads and lasses during Rongali Bihu season. It is also famous among children and elders. Here is one of Bhupen Hazorika's most famous Bihu songs Kakodungar Borali from YouTube.
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