The Gumam Puja was held at Edigum Balsa village in  Bandhugaon block of Koraput district to celebrate Mother Lakshmi and praying the Goddess for bumper crops. The Kui and Kondh tribal community gather for different rituals during the event. As per the tradition, all the houses in the village take the seeds and worship materials in a rice strainer and go to the agriculture land.

The puja is celebrated throughout the day fixed by the village preist. The worship items include coconut, bananas, dia and incense. The tribals take the seeds of rice, mandia, kandul and various farming crops with them to the puja. As the rains start, the first seed is worshiped in the village by the preist for a good harvest.

The community do a replica of an idol with clay from the agriculture land and the seeds are carried in a procession, and later the community members gather for the Gumam puja. The Gurumai seeds are kept near the village Gramadevi. A goat is sacrificed infront of the Gramadevi to please. In addition, each family sacrifices a hen as worship. After the puja, the seeds are distributed among all the families.

This year, the villagers were informed about the puja by the village priest. 55 families from three villages reached the farming land and a representative from each household was present to represent the village goddess. Subarao Kendruka, head of Edigum Balsar, said the villagers worship before the rains every year for good harvest. "People from the villages of Edigum Balsa, Kapalda and Hatighoda gathered in Edimughalsa," he said.