Sohrai Festival

Sohrai is a harvest festival of the Jharkhand. It also called cattle festival. It is celebrated after harvest and coincide with festival of Diwali. It is celebrated by Sadan, Oraon, Munda and Santal among others. The festival is celebrated on Amavasya (new moon) in the Hindu month of Karthik (October–November). The feast is celebrated in the honour of cattle especially bullocks, buffalos, goats and sheep. Sohrai is day to express gratitude and affection for live stocks. The harvest festival is the time of the year when they exhibit their artistic skills and expressions. Every year, after the festival is over, the drawings and patterns created during this time are erased. This festival usually takes place in the month October or November for three days. The festival coincide with Diwali. Sohrai is the chief festival of Santhal tribe held in after the chief rice crop of the year has been got in. In Hazaribagh District of Jharkhand, an indigenous art form is practised by the women. Ritualistic art is done on mud walls to welcome the harvest and to celebrate the cattle. The women clean their houses and decorate their walls with murals of Sohrai arts. This art form has continued since 10,000-4,000 BC. It was prevalent mostly in caves, but shifted to houses with mud walls