Tusu Parab, a harvest festival celebrated on the last day of the month of Poush, belongs mainly to which state?

Tusu Parab (also called Tusu Puja or Makar Parab) is a harvest festival celebrated in Jharkhand, as well as in neighbouring parts of West Bengal and Odisha. It is celebrated in winter, on the last day of the month of Poush, which coincides with Makar Sankranti in mid-January.

Tusu is celebrated after the harvest of the paddy crop, as a thanksgiving for the harvest and a celebration of the new rice. It is dedicated to Tusu, a folk goddess, who is often represented as a young unmarried girl. According to folk tradition, Tusu was a beautiful young girl who sacrificed her life to protect her honour, and she is remembered with love and respect.

The festival is celebrated especially by unmarried girls and women. For a whole month before the festival, they gather in the evenings to worship a clay image of Tusu or a decorated earthen pot, and they sing Tusu songs, which describe the joys and sorrows of village life, love, nature and social events. On the final day, people take colourful paper and bamboo structures called "chaudal", decorated like temples, in processions to a river or pond. There, they immerse the chaudal and the image of Tusu, singing farewell songs. People also bathe in rivers, wear new clothes and prepare special sweets made from new rice and jaggery, such as pithas. Fairs are held at many places, especially along the Subarnarekha river.

Tusu is celebrated by the Kurmi, Santhal and other communities of the region. It is one of the major festivals of the Chotanagpur plateau.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Haryana celebrates Makar Sankranti and Lohri in winter.
• ✗Gujarat celebrates Uttarayan with kite flying.
• ✗Kerala celebrates Onam as its harvest festival.