📰 In News: Behdienkhlam Festival
- Where? → Jowai, Meghalaya (celebrated by the Pnar / Jaintia community)
- When? → Mid-July, after sowing season
- Meaning:
- Khlam → plague/pestilence
- Beh dien → to drive away with sticks
- Religion: Most important festival of the indigenous Niamtre faith
- Duration: 4-day celebration
🌟 Key Features:
- Culminates at Wah Aitnar (muddy pool).
- Main attractions:
- Khnong → Wooden post
- Rots → 30–40 ft tall decorated bamboo structures (artistic & competitive, often depicting social issues).
- Rituals:
- Dolois (village chiefs) perform rites to ward off evil spirits, plague, and epidemics.
- Youth symbolically beat house roofs with bamboo poles to drive away evil.
- Climax: Tug-of-war style tussle for the Khnong, later immersed with the rots in muddy waters.
Updated : 14 July 2025 , 11:35 PM | TOI