Rabha community celebrates 26th Baikho festival
Goalpara: The Rabha community today observed the 26th edition of the Baikho Festival, a vibrant and deeply spiritual agrarian celebration rooted in ancestral customs and cultural reverence. The two-day event, held at the sacred Aya Baikho Dham in Udaypur, Dudhnoi, began with solemn religious rituals and sacrificial offerings dedicated to Goddess Baikho, the community’s revered deity for fertility and protection. Organized by the Dudhnoi Regional Rabha Students’ Union, the festival commenced on Monday with traditional sacrifices of pigs and chickens, a ritual believed to appease the goddess and invoke blessings for an abundant harvest. These age-old customs were carried out under the guidance of Baibra priests, custodians of sacred oral traditions and ritual practices. A key attraction of the festival is the awe-inspiring Barnakkai Dance, a traditional fire ritual performed by the Baibra. In this dramatic and symbolic test of purity, the priests walk barefoot across burning embers, embodying spiritual strength and dedication. As flames crackled beneath their feet, the performance drew gasps of admiration and silent reverence from the gathered crowds. Celebrated annually on the full moon day of Jeth (typically May–June), Baikho Festival holds immense spiritual and agricultural significance for the Rabha people. It serves as a ritual invocation for a bountiful crop season, safeguarding the land and its people from natural disasters and disease. The sacred groves of Aya Baikho Dham resonated with the rhythmic chants and drumbeats as devotees—young and old—came together to celebrate their shared heritage. The festival not only marks the beginning of the agricultural cycle but also stands as a powerful reaffirmation of Rabha identity, resilience, and harmony with nature. As the community gathered in unity, the Baikho Festival once again illuminated the enduring cultural spirit of the Rabha people—rooted in the earth, blessed by the divine, and carried forward with unwavering faith.
