Next: about 9 Apr 2027
Sarhul
The spring festival of Jharkhand's Oraon, Munda and Ho peoples, kept in a white saree with a red border and sal flowers.
What is worn for Sarhul
Sarhul is a spring festival of the Adivasi peoples of Jharkhand, including the Oraon, Munda and Ho. It is held on the third day of the bright half of Chaitra, when the sal trees come into flower. The village priest, called the pahan, worships the sal grove, praying for rain and a good crop, and flowers of the sal are given out to all. Women wear a white saree with a red border, the colours of the day, which stand for purity and for the sacred, and wear sal flowers in the hair. They dance in a line with arms linked, to drums, while men play the madal. Another name for the dress is lal paar, red border, and cotton is the usual cloth.
The sarees
Written by the EveryPallu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Sarhul" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sari: Suyash.dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source