Tea tribe fest from Feb 7

GUWAHATI: Sirish Festival, an event which will highlight the unique culture and traditions of the state’s tea tribe community, will begin from February 7.
Prominent personalities from the community will be honoured during the festival which will be held in Hathikuli tea estate in Golaghat district, near Kaziranga National Park.
The Amalgamated Plantations Pvt Limited (APPL) foundation will organize the festival, the state’s first such event.
The tea tribe community will showcase its music and dance. Two icons from the community — one each from the fields of literature and culture — will be honoured at the festival, said an organizer.
Manas Robin, a popular musician who is part of the festival, said the organizers are focusing on ways to preserve the different dance forms of the tea tribes.
“They will get global recognition as tourists from all over the world will come to be a part of the event. We want to motivate tea tribe youths to take part in sporting events as they are naturally talented in archery,” Robin said.
One such famous dance form is the Chah Baganar Jhumur Nach or Jhumuar dance which is a distinctive feature of the tea gardens of the state. It is an expression of their perspective of history, life and social issues.
The tea garden workers lived a life of hardship and were provided with only the basic facilities. After the day’s work in the vast tea gardens, the men and women would perform their traditional music, dance, recitation of folklore, basic handloom weaving and sporting activities like archery and pole-climbing as forms of leisure, he said.
Subsequently, the varied cultures of the different tribes got intermixed. Local Assamese tradition also affected their culture, he said.
The British brought the workers from different parts of the country to engage in the tea gardens in the early 19th century.
The most important constituents of this large community comprising different castes and tribes are the Santhals, Tantis, Orangs, Mundas, Bhuiyas, Bhumijs, Paharias, Projas, Gaurs, Kharias, Bheels, Boraiks, Ghatowars, Telis, Goalas, Rajaks, Koyas, Telengas and Kamars.