The tribals of Bastar are celebrating ‘Navakhani’ and ‘Paccha Pundum’, the agricultural festivals celebrated to express gratitude towards nature and land for providing food and other material. They celebrate the festival before consuming the produce of the new harvest.
‘Navakhani’ is celebrated in most parts of Bastar while ‘Paccha Pundum’ is celebrated in South-West Bastar. The tribals will celebrate the festival for eight days and perform rituals as a gesture of expressing gratitude towards the nature.
The ‘Dorli Gundi’ and Telugu speaking tribals sing during the festival song of ‘Paccha Pundum’ in praise of mother nature who according to their belief provides everything they need for survival. They pray to the deities and thank them for what they receive from nature.
During the festival, they perform puja of the Goddess of their respective village at the ponds. The chief of the village dressed up in attractive attire called ‘Sirha’ performs the puja before consuming the preparations from the new harvest. The villagers remain engaged in different rituals on each day of the eight-day festival.
In South Bastar, the sacrifice of cocks is a common practice after which people carry their deity amidst drum beats. They dance and sing and chant special mantras while offering the preparations from the new harvest to the deity. They also hug each other and dance till the evening.
On the third day, they once again pay obeisance to the deities and dance till evening. The tribals believe that the deities enter into the body of few villagers during the festival and these villagers have to go through some tests which last till night.