Baha - (the flowering festival)
Baha porob ( ᱵᱟᱦᱟ ᱯᱟᱨᱟᱵ ) - the festival of flowers is the second largest festival of the Santals being celebrated in the month of Phagun (February-March) after the full moon has been sighted. This is also the period when the sarjom(sal) and the matkom (mahua) trees blossom.Before Baha festival, no one is allowed to gather the matkom Baha which provides the Santals with food and drink. The celebration usually lasts for two days. Baha is a "righteous festival and not licentious like the sohrae" remarks Kolean (Bodding 1942:151).
Baha is considered to be the beginning of the Santal year; the rituals comprise of massive propitiation of the national spirits who are invoked to keep the villages free from various illness and witchcraft and preserve the crops.
The Baha porob is celebrated in different days in different villages; thus the villagers have adequate opportunities to visit their relatives and join in the feast of eating, drinking and dancing.
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