Johar visitors ᱡᱚᱦᱟᱨ, today in this post we are going to discuss some of the Santali Traditional Folk Dances which I think you are familiar with some of these.
Santali Dance is really an important piece of Santali Culture and Tradition.
Many of these, in fact, all of the below mentioned Santali Folk Dances are done in a group, where people belonging to the Santhal community come together and enjoy the dance with each other.
People belonging to the Santhal Community usually express their emotions and feeling in some forms of their cultural belief practice, arts and one of these way is dancing. And it's the earliest ways of expressing emotions and feelings.
As same as many other tribes, Santhals also believe in worshipping the mother nature and they pay respect for every little thing that they get from nature. They worship nature and show respect to mother nature by dancing and singing.
Santali Dance is really an important piece of Santali Culture and Tradition.
Many of these, in fact, all of the below mentioned Santali Folk Dances are done in a group, where people belonging to the Santhal community come together and enjoy the dance with each other.
People belonging to the Santhal Community usually express their emotions and feeling in some forms of their cultural belief practice, arts and one of these way is dancing. And it's the earliest ways of expressing emotions and feelings.
As same as many other tribes, Santhals also believe in worshipping the mother nature and they pay respect for every little thing that they get from nature. They worship nature and show respect to mother nature by dancing and singing.
According to them dancing and singing is a way of enjoying the free thoughts of each other and togetherness. They express their opinions and thoughts by singing and dancing.
As per Santhals belief, dance and singing rituals connects them with their gods and goddess.
They give respect to the universe creator Marang Buru and show their devotion to other gods and goddess and also to their ancestors for preserving the nature for them and their upcoming generations.
Santhals situated in village areas usually keep very much faith in each other and everyone lives in unity. Even during their hard times, everyone helps each other in the way that can.
Santhals community living in villages don't really believe in much technology and they keep devotion and faith only in mother nature.
There are a large no.of tribal groups and each group had different practices and belief but everyone share the same devotion and respects towards Earth and other main components of the universe. This shows that how much these groups are related to each other even though they have different language and culture.
Let's come back to our main discussing topic and its Santali Folk Dance.
So, basically, there are lots of folk dances in our country. Santali Traditional Folk dances and songs are mainly related to their present emotion.
Each and every folk dance shows a different story and mood. These Santali Folk Dance are mainly performed by Santhals during some special occasions.
So, below I have provided a brief description of every Santali folk dance in the Santhal community.
ᱵᱟᱦᱟ ᱮᱱᱮᱡ - In Santali Language "Baha" refers to flowers. It is named upon one of the main festivals of Santali Culture the "Baha festival " during which Santhals perform Baha dance.
ᱞᱟᱜᱽᱬᱮ ᱮᱱᱮᱡ - Langre Dance is mainly danced together with singing some Langre song including some kind of social discussion. The phrase Langre means a kind of remedy to boredom or exhaustion.
This is performed in a place called "Akhra".Akara refers to some kind of area of a platform or we can say a common area where people dance together.
ᱫᱚᱝ ᱮᱱᱮᱡ - Compared to the other dances it's a laborious dance. In Santhali Language Dong means Jump. So, Dong Dance includes jumping. You need to be very active during the dance because these dance moves include lots of jumping and movements.
Dong Dance is not allowed during any festive season, it can only be performed during events like Marriages and birthdays.
Performing Dong Dance during the festive season is restricted.
ᱰᱟᱦᱟᱨ ᱮᱱᱮᱡ - Dahar in English means Path or you can say road. So, basically, this dance is mainly performed on roads which in Santhali refers to Dahar.
This actually takes place during the month of Mag and it ends somewhat in the month of Fagun following the Baha Festival.
In this dance, only women participate and it does not really require any kind of musical instruments, it only consists of heavenly singing.
ᱰᱟᱱᱴᱷᱟ ᱮᱱᱮᱡ - First of all, let me tell you the meaning of Dantha, it's mean some kind of fight and some sort of jump movements including battle movements.
It can be referred to some sort of fighting jumping dance. Only men participate in this dance because it literally consists of a few powerful body movements.
It basically takes place during the Sohrai Festival and in case you don't know it normally happens just after Dussehra. And for your kind information, it is restricted to do rather than Sohrai Festive season.
ᱯᱟᱛᱟ ᱮᱱᱮᱡ - It is just like a group dance where both men and women dance hand in hand. Paatha means some kind of queue or a line.
It differs from place to place of the villages where they follow their own music tunes and dance rhythm. In this, people dance in a line.
So, more the participants then it will result in a big line but then the line gets divided into parts and it gets folded up. It basically performed in fairs where people from different villages gather at the fair and enjoy the dance.
In most cases, it is held once a time in a year. And it does not follow any rules. So, you just have to keep up with the group you are dancing with.
ᱨᱤᱱᱡᱷᱟ ᱮᱱᱮᱡ-This dance mainly takes place during the month of September and October when the rice and wheat-paddy crops get matured enough to be cut off.
During this period Santhals show their respects and gratitude towards the God named " Karam Bonga " in order to get the blessing to continue their food chain life.
Rinjha dance is one of the Traditional Sacred dance done only to thank God for the food that he provided to them.
In this dance practice, both men and women have their separate premises under the same location. They sing different religious songs of Karam Bonga while dancing.
This is one of the dances which is gaining lots of popularity during this present time period.
In this men and women take part and dance hand in hand according to their style of dancing.
It doesn't really consist of too much group of people but it may differ in many cases. It occurs during some get-together events like the picnic, going for travel with friends and relatives.
ᱫᱟ'ᱥᱟᱭ ᱮᱱᱮᱡ - This dance is performed during the Dasai Festival which is celebrated to show the freedom fighters history and to pay respect to them who have fought for their Santhali Independence.
This dance form mainly relates to the martial arts forms and it describes the past history of Santhals during the British period when they used to defend themselves.
CONCLUSION
It was all I have gathered information about Santali Traditional Dances.
So, I hope you liked it and I would really appreciate if you provide me your opinion towards all these Santali Folk Dance.
If you know any type of Santali Dance that I have not mentioned in this list then please feel free to let me know.
As per Santhals belief, dance and singing rituals connects them with their gods and goddess.
They give respect to the universe creator Marang Buru and show their devotion to other gods and goddess and also to their ancestors for preserving the nature for them and their upcoming generations.
Santhals situated in village areas usually keep very much faith in each other and everyone lives in unity. Even during their hard times, everyone helps each other in the way that can.
Santhals community living in villages don't really believe in much technology and they keep devotion and faith only in mother nature.
There are a large no.of tribal groups and each group had different practices and belief but everyone share the same devotion and respects towards Earth and other main components of the universe. This shows that how much these groups are related to each other even though they have different language and culture.
Let's come back to our main discussing topic and its Santali Folk Dance.
So, basically, there are lots of folk dances in our country. Santali Traditional Folk dances and songs are mainly related to their present emotion.
Each and every folk dance shows a different story and mood. These Santali Folk Dance are mainly performed by Santhals during some special occasions.
So, below I have provided a brief description of every Santali folk dance in the Santhal community.
1. Baha Dance
2. Langre Dance
 |
| Image Source: Youtube |
This is performed in a place called "Akhra".Akara refers to some kind of area of a platform or we can say a common area where people dance together.
3. Dong Dance
Dong Dance is not allowed during any festive season, it can only be performed during events like Marriages and birthdays.
Performing Dong Dance during the festive season is restricted.
4. Dahar Dance
 |
| Image Attribution: Ananda Bazaar |
This actually takes place during the month of Mag and it ends somewhat in the month of Fagun following the Baha Festival.
In this dance, only women participate and it does not really require any kind of musical instruments, it only consists of heavenly singing.
5. Dantha Dance
 |
| Image Source: Youtube |
It can be referred to some sort of fighting jumping dance. Only men participate in this dance because it literally consists of a few powerful body movements.
It basically takes place during the Sohrai Festival and in case you don't know it normally happens just after Dussehra. And for your kind information, it is restricted to do rather than Sohrai Festive season.
6. Patah Dance
It differs from place to place of the villages where they follow their own music tunes and dance rhythm. In this, people dance in a line.
So, more the participants then it will result in a big line but then the line gets divided into parts and it gets folded up. It basically performed in fairs where people from different villages gather at the fair and enjoy the dance.
In most cases, it is held once a time in a year. And it does not follow any rules. So, you just have to keep up with the group you are dancing with.
7. Rinjha Dance
 |
| Image Attribution: Santhaedisom |
During this period Santhals show their respects and gratitude towards the God named " Karam Bonga " in order to get the blessing to continue their food chain life.
Rinjha dance is one of the Traditional Sacred dance done only to thank God for the food that he provided to them.
In this dance practice, both men and women have their separate premises under the same location. They sing different religious songs of Karam Bonga while dancing.
8. Santali Dabung Dance
This is one of the dances which is gaining lots of popularity during this present time period.
In this men and women take part and dance hand in hand according to their style of dancing.
It doesn't really consist of too much group of people but it may differ in many cases. It occurs during some get-together events like the picnic, going for travel with friends and relatives.
9. Santali Dasai Dance
 |
| Image Source: Youtube |
This dance form mainly relates to the martial arts forms and it describes the past history of Santhals during the British period when they used to defend themselves.
In this dance practice, men wear peacock feathers in their turban and celebrate this Dasai festival.
CONCLUSION
It was all I have gathered information about Santali Traditional Dances.
So, I hope you liked it and I would really appreciate if you provide me your opinion towards all these Santali Folk Dance.
If you know any type of Santali Dance that I have not mentioned in this list then please feel free to let me know.
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