BOKO: The Rabha tribal community celebrated their annual festival ‘Baikho Puja’ at a remote village Gamerimura village under Boko LAC along the Assam-Meghalaya border in the Kamrup district on Wednesday.
The festival is celebrated to propitiate the prosperity of the community and the success of the harvest. The Gamerimura regional units of All Rabha Students’ Union (ARSU), All Rabha Women Council (ARWC) and Six Schedule Demand Committee (SSDC) jointly organized the day-long festival in Gamerimura playground.
Tankeswar Rabha, Chief Executive Member of Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC), took part as chief guest along with deputy chairman of RHAC, Ramakanta Rabha, other executive members of RHAC and many other dignitaries. All three regional organizations also felicitated the students who recently passed the HSLC examination from the Gamerimura area. On this occasion, Rabha traditional game ‘lewa tana’ (tug-of-war) was also organized among the boys and girls of the area.
Rohini Rabha, the main priest of the Baikho Puja, said that the puja or the rituals started from morning. “This is our traditional annual puja. During the Baikho Puja, we are worship our 13 gods and goddesses for good harvest, for children’s progress in education, for no scarcity of water, for people’s health and to remove evil and misfortune. Moreover, we annually celebrate the puja for the comprehensive development of our Rabha tribal community,” said Rohini Rabha.
Rohini Rabha also said that the festival is celebrated not only in Assam’s RHAC area, but also in various places of Meghalaya.
CEM Tankeswar Rabha, “Festivals represent the identity of a community. The festival conveys a message of harmony and love among different ethnic groups in a region and I personally believe that this festival will bind everyone together.”
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