Bohag Bihu 2027 बोहाग बिहू

Why Bohag Bihu is celebrated

Bohag Bihu is the biggest festival of Assam and the start of the Assamese year. It is called Rongali Bihu because rong means joy. It comes in spring, when trees are in fresh leaf, the first rains arrive and farmers get ready to sow paddy. The festival thanks nature and cattle, welcomes the new season and brings families and villages together across caste and faith.

Assam has three Bihus in a year, each tied to the farming cycle. Bohag Bihu in April is the joyful one. Kati or Kongali Bihu in October falls when granaries are empty, and Magh or Bhogali Bihu in January celebrates the harvest with feasting.

History and story of Bohag Bihu

Bihu grew out of old farming and fertility customs of the Brahmaputra valley, shared by many communities of the region. The Ahom kings, who ruled Assam for about six hundred years, gave the festival royal support. The Rang Ghar at Sivasagar, built in the eighteenth century, was a royal pavilion from which kings watched games and Bihu performances. Bihu songs, called Bihugeet, speak of love, nature and village life and have been passed down orally for generations. In April 2023 more than eleven thousand dancers and drummers performed together in Guwahati and set a world record.

How Bohag Bihu is celebrated

The festival starts on the last day of the month of Chot with Goru Bihu. Cattle are taken to rivers and ponds, rubbed with a paste of turmeric and black gram, and gently tapped with twigs while people sing wishes for their growth. They get new ropes and are fed gourd and brinjal.

The next day, Manuh Bihu, is the new year for people. Everyone bathes, wears new clothes and touches the feet of elders. The gamosa, a white cotton towel with red woven borders, is gifted as a mark of respect. Homes serve jolpan of flattened rice, curd and jaggery, along with til pitha and coconut laru.

Through the week, groups of men called husori go from house to house singing and blessing families. Young people dance to the dhol, the pepa made of buffalo horn and the bamboo gogona. Women wear muga silk mekhela sador and tuck kopou orchids in their hair.

Bohag Bihu across India

The Bodo community celebrates Bwisagu at the same time, and the Deori and Tiwa people have their own spring Bihu customs. Across India, mid April brings other new year festivals: Vaisakhi in Punjab, Pohela Boishakh in Bengal, Vishu in Kerala and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu. In Uttarakhand the same Sankranti is Bikhauti, when fairs such as the Syalde Bikhauti mela at Dwarahat in Almora are held.