The Baishagu festival, celebrated by the Bodo community, is associated with which state?

Baishagu is the most important festival of the Bodo (Boro) community of Assam. It is a spring festival, celebrated in mid-April, at the beginning of the Assamese month of Bohag (Baishakh), at the same time as Rongali Bihu. It marks the beginning of the new year for the Bodos.

The name Baishagu comes from "baisha", meaning year or age, and "agu", meaning beginning or start. On the first day of Baishagu, cows are bathed and worshipped, and given special food. On the second day, people worship Bathoubwrai (Bwrai Bathou), the supreme deity of the traditional Bathou religion of the Bodos, at the altar in their courtyards. The altar has a "sijou" plant (a cactus-like euphorbia plant), which is regarded as the symbol of Bathoubwrai. Offerings of rice beer, chicken and other items are made. Younger members of the family seek the blessings of their elders by bowing before them.

The most famous part of the Baishagu celebrations is the Bagurumba dance, often called the "butterfly dance". It is performed by Bodo women, dressed in colourful traditional dresses called "dokhna" and scarves called "jwmgra", which they spread out like the wings of butterflies as they dance. The music is provided by traditional instruments, such as the "kham" (a long drum), the "sifung" (a long bamboo flute), the "serja" (a bowed string instrument) and the "jotha" (cymbals).

The Bodos are the largest plains tribe of Assam. They live mainly in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), an autonomous region in western Assam under the Sixth Schedule. Their language, Bodo, written in the Devanagari script, is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Tripura celebrates Kharchi Puja and Garia Puja.
• ✗Meghalaya celebrates Wangala and Nongkrem.
• ✗Manipur celebrates Lai Haraoba and Yaoshang.