“Dance is an integral part of all festivities of the Santal community”: Celebrating the legacy of Rabindranath Tagore – West Bengal

Dance is an integral part of all festivities of the Santhal community. It is not only a performing art, but a way of life for them. To celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Sangeet Natak Akademi organized Enek Sereng Parab, a three-day festival of Santhali dance and music at Daronda village, Birbhum, between … Read more

Santal community-based organisations – West Bengal

Our fate in our hands India’s indigenous Adivasi tribes are among the most disadvantaged people south of the Himalayan mountains. To improve their lot, some have begun to set up community-based organisations. […] We have experienced that the shift from tradition to modernity is loaded with difficulties. It can easily take several generations. We do … Read more

Museums recommended by the Daricha Foundation: A window to the world for India’s tribal arts and their practitioners – West Bengal

For details, visit the Daricha Foundation Website: http://www.daricha.org/museums.aspxDate Visited: 23 June 2021 The Santals, a proto-Austroloid racial group,  are the largest tribe in West Bengal accounting  for more than  50% of the state’s tribal population.  Other than West Bengal, their major concentration is in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Tripura.  In Assam, they … Read more

The main festival celebrated of the Santal community (December-January): Sorhae “thanksgiving” – West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, Nepal, and Bangladesh

Singing and Dancing, a Festivity of Unity By Boro Baski | Translated by Joel Tudu Sorhae is the biggest festival of the Santals. The Santals of Malda, Murshidabad, Dinajpur, Birbhum, Bardhaman district, together with the Santals of Jharkhand, Assam, Nepal, and Bangladesh, celebrate this festival with various rituals, singing and dancing towards the end of Bengali … Read more