Different Folks, Similar Strokes

A visible part of Christmas celebrations worldwide is the singing of Christmas carols - a tradition involving a group of singers going from door-to-door and regaling the residents with carols (like the famous ‘Joy to the World’). Carols may also be sung by larger, more professional groups formed from church choirs. Though carol singing is an art and as art goes, different groups bring their own variety into their songs but there is one detail which is seemingly common. The objective of all carol singing is to spread joy and merriment among the listeners, and sing praises of the Lord and invoke His blessings upon all.

We have something like the Christmas carols much closer to home in the form of Bihu Husoris. Bihu (the spring festival of Assam) is celebrated with its own set of traditions and comes accompanied by a lot of singing and dancing. One of the Bihu customs is the husori.

Here’s how Christmas carols and Bihu husoris bridge the divide and become similar. Every spring young people form their own bands (which traditionally comprised only male members) to sing and dance to the tune of a category of Bihu songs called ‘husoris’. Two enduring motifs of all ‘Husori geets’ (husori songs) are God and Nature. Carols too, are about the same spirit of spreading happiness and warmth, and praying to the Lord.

Just like the Christmas and caroling groups, these bands (called ‘Husori dols’) are an integral part of the spring festival. The husori dol congregates first at the local prayer-house (naam-ghar) or the house of the village headman (gaonburha) or under a big tree (traditionally believed to house the spirit of Nature). Thereafter, they would go about their business of spreading benediction and good cheer. The husori dol would announce their arrival to the people of the house with energetic bursts of drumbeats from outside the gate (podulimukh). The house-owner would venture out to the gate and cordially invite the dol into the front-yard and bid them welcome. The first words of the husori would traditionally sing the praise of the Lord. A husori dol uses few instruments – typically a drum (dhul) and a kind of trumpet (pepa). The dol would sing and dance and before leaving the house, all assembled – the dol and the household – would prostrate on the ground and pray to the Lord asking for His protection, and praying for good health and contentment of the people of the house. The house-owner typically offers betel nuts, a few leaves of paan, maybe a good piece of home-spun cloth and sometimes, a few coins. 

This husori custom typically exists in villages resigning urbanites like myself to be content only with the images on TV and in newspapers. This year though, I have my own Husori tale. A couple of us friends ventured out on 14^th April (the traditional 1^st day of Spring) and leaving the city behind, we took a trip to a resort. As we turned off the highway and onto a lane, we saw a bunch of kids in the middle of the road. These kids turned out to be amateur husori dols waiting for passing-by vehicles – boys in dhotis with crisp clean gamosas (a piece of cotton cloth with red and intricately patterned woven motifs) wrapped around their heads, and young girls dressed in mekhela chadors (silk sarees) and adorned with traditional Assamese jewellery items. The youngest boy was almost as tall as his dhul! 

We stopped and the kids in the dol started their husori; the boys began beating their drums, the girls started singing and swaying to the beats. I must confess that the singing was slightly off-key and the dancing was mediocre, but they were kids after all and I wasn't complaining. The tall-as-his-dhul boy was beating his drum for all it was worth, and the simple, easy grace with which those kids performed was simply heart-warming. Obviously the husori was being conducted very amateurishly and for money but I could not help being taken in by the beauty of the moment. I fished out a few notes and started distributing among the kids. It was then that my friend pointed further along down the road. I followed the outstretched finger and saw not one, not two but five other husori dols patiently waiting for us further ahead! The kids of the first dol happy now with their collection, bade us onward with that now-universal greeting – ‘Happy Bihu!’ We made ritual stops for all the dols; all kids and very young at that. It was obvious that the girls had borrowed their mothers’ and elder sisters’ dresses; the mekhelas were all in sizes many times big and held together with safety pins, and the little girls had difficulty moving around in their heavy dresses. I suppose it was easier for the boys – all they had to figure out was the intricacy of dancing and staying inside their dhotis at the same time! I ran out of small change, my friend ran out of patience but eventually, we negotiated past all the dols, with raucous shouts of cheer or disappointment (depending on their collection) from the kids. As we moved on ahead towards the resort, I looked back and saw another car turning into the road, and all the kids preparing their song-and-dance routine for the new visitors. I felt glad that we had made that trip and wished myself silently – ‘Happy Bihu’!