'Bushu Dima' (Busu), the main harvest festival celebrated in late January, belongs to which tribe?

Bushu Dima (also called Busu or Bushu Jiba) is the most important festival of the Dimasa (Dimasa-Kachari) tribe, who live mainly in the Dima Hasao district of Assam, and also in parts of Nagaland (especially around Dimapur), Cachar and Karbi Anglong. It is a post-harvest festival, celebrated at the end of January, after the harvest is complete. 27 January is observed as a holiday in the Dima Hasao district.

Bushu Dima is a festival of thanksgiving and joy. The Dimasas celebrate the successful harvest by thanking their gods and ancestors and by feasting, singing and dancing. During the festival, the whole village takes part in community feasts, in which rice beer (judima), pork and other traditional dishes are shared. There are traditional games, sports and competitions for young people. Young men and women, dressed in colourful traditional costumes, perform traditional dances, such as the Baidima, to the music of drums (khram), flutes (muri) and other instruments. There are three forms of Bushu, called Jidap, Surem and Hangsou, which differ in the scale of the celebration and the duration, from three days to a week.

The Dimasas once ruled a powerful kingdom, the Dimasa (Kachari) kingdom, in the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys. Its early capital was at Dimapur, now in Nagaland, where ruins of the old capital, including carved stone pillars, can still be seen. After being attacked by the Ahoms in the 16th century, the Dimasa rulers moved their capital to Maibong and later to Khaspur in the Cachar plains. The kingdom was annexed by the British in 1832. The Dima Hasao district has an autonomous council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Karbi tribe celebrates Rongker.
• ✗Bodo tribe celebrates Baishagu.
• ✗Mishing tribe celebrates Ali-Aye-Ligang.