Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
The Chattogram Hill Tract (CHT) region has worn a festive look as the traditional 'Sangrain' festival of Marma community and Boishabi of Chakma community began with great festivity on Saturday.
The tribal people have started their festivals with the sunrise by offering flowers to the rivers in their own areas.
The ethnic Marma community in Bandarban is celebrating their biggest 'Sangrain' festival amid big preparations for different foods to feed guests.
With the Marma tribe, three days of their four-day festival are spent bidding farewell to the outgoing year, with the fourth focusing on greeting the incoming year.
On the first day of the festival, both male and female members of the Marma tribe stage a procession to take their images of Buddha down to the riverfront. The images will be washed on a raft with either a mixture of sandalwood and water, or milk and water in preparation for reinstalling them at the temple or in their shrines at their homes.
Sangrain is the New Year. It falls in the middle of April. Before the days of Sangrain, they cleaned and decorated their houses because Marmas Sangrain is an auspicious and significant festival of the year on a secular and religious level. The way they celebrate is not much different from Burmese and Thai.
These are some of the things they do in the celebration of New Year. They make traditional food and cookies. They play various kinds of games and the most enjoyable and important is flashing water to each other.
The following two days, being the last two days of the old year, are spent on light-hearted celebration called pani-khela, where participants splash each other with water, symbolically washing away all the sorrows and ills of the past year. A similar ceremony is carried out by Rakhaine, called Rangpani, where participants splash each other with coloured water.
People, mostly young boys and girls, enjoy the water festival. They gather from various parts of the country in one particular area to play in the water festival. Anybody can join the festival disregarding their creed, group and so on. It is an opportunity for everyone to make friends even with strangers.
On this auspicious occasion, everyone is friend. Enemies and mistakes are forgiven and become friends. Everyone is determined to start with new hope and a new way of life.
They also go to the temple, bathe the Buddha statues and eight precept observers, and take five precepts of the pagoda around all together.
The monks in the temple take this chance to remind the dharma; the right way of living and practicing as Buddhist. The elders are worshiped and they bless the young ones for a bright future.
Besides, there is one popular Sangrain that touches the hearts of Marma. Everyone, one and big ones, knows this song because it is sung in every Sangrain. It was composed by Ven. U Chala Bhante. Marmas said, "Let's get together in Sangrain, And play water, Oh brothers and sisters, Come, come let's rejoice."
Chakmas enjoy a three-day festival, two of which fall into the outgoing year. The first day is dedicated to celebrations for Phul Bijhu, the second for Mul Bijhu, and New Year's Day for Gojyai Pojya.
nazimuddinshyamol@gmail.com