Month long Hati's tribal festival 'Boda Tyohar' commenced with fervour in Himachal

Nahan , "Boda Tyohar", the biggest annual festival of the Hati tribe in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmour and celebrated by over three lakh community members, has commenced with traditional fervour.

The month-long festival "Boda Tyohar", which commenced on Friday is also called "Magho ko Tyohar". The festival is a part of the primitive traits and distinct culture of the Hati tribe, says Dr Ami Chand Kamal, a researcher and President of Kendriya Hati Samiti, the prime organisation of the tribe in Sirmour.

The festival is celebrated by over three lakh residents living in the 154 panchayats of the Trans-Giri area of Sirmaur district, says Kamal.

For the past 56 years, the Hati community has been protesting for a tribal status on the pattern of Uttarakhand's Jaunsar Babar tribal belt.

The Government of India, after receiving several survey reports from top social scientists in this regard, accepted the community's demands and declared them a Scheduled Tribe after bringing an amendment in the Constitution on August 4, 2023, the Hati leader said.

According to Kamal, the festival is also celebrated in the tribal belt of Jaunsar Babar in Uttarakhand and in parts of upper Shimla, Choupal tehsil and Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh.

The festival, which is divided into three mini festivals, has unique features and starts on the eve of Posh Dwadashi, which was on January 9 this year. The community members cooked various tribal dishes like Pude, Bedoli, Patanday, Dhroti and Gudoli and offered them to their deity on Friday.

On this day all family members rush to their native villages to join their families on this auspicious occasion, said social worker of Trans Giri area Om Prakash Thakur, adding that today in the most of the villages the festivity takes off in the "Sanjha Angan" where the temple of village deity "Thari Devi" is located.

According to centuries-old tribal tradition, in many villages, the festival starts from the temple of Kul Devta, like Shirgul Maharaj, Bijat Maharaj and Mahasu Maharaj. This day is called "Bhatioj", says Thakur.

The festivities include singing and dancing to traditional music instruments throughout the month. This tradition also symbolises the importance of women in Hati culture as brothers rush to the places of their married sisters with "Saje ka Duna" .

During the month, all sisters, without fail, also visit their parental family as their share of meat is kept safe till sisters arrive as guests, says Thakur.

On the eighth day, the "Khoda" festival is celebrated with fanfare and festivities taking place in every family. Friends and relatives are also invited as guests on this occasion.

On this day, according to the age-old tradition, a cooked heart of a male goat is offered to the dearest and most respectful guest at the dinner, Thakur added.

After the day of "Khoda" festivity, the tradition of "Boidoot" starts, and every household invites a member of every family of the village and close relatives to have a dinner at their residence, at least once a month, says another member of the community, Karishma Thakur.

According to Kundan Singh Shastri, general secretary of Hati Samiti, the festival has many more unique traditions on which many researchers are working nowadays.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.