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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Cultural festival in Meghalaya}}<br />
{{Infobox holiday|<br />
| holiday_name = Behdienkhlam<br />
| image = BehdienKhlam Festival.jpg<br />
| caption = <br />
| nickname = <br />
| observedby = [[Niamtre]] followers of [[Pnar people]] of [[Meghalaya]]<br />
| date = <br />
| observances = <br />
| celebrations = decorations, dance, prayers, offerings, games<br />
| type = <br />
| significance = Harvest festival <br> Invocation to gods<br />
| date2023 = Sunday, 9 July<br />
| date2024 = Monday, 8 July<br />
| alt = <br />
}}<br />
'''Behdienkhlam''' is a festival celebrated primarily by the [[Pnar people]] of [[Meghalaya]], India. The festival is celebrated annually in July and is an important [[dance festival]] of the [[Jaintia people]]. The festival is an invocation to God for warding off evil spirits and diseases and a blessing for a good harvest.<br />
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==Etymology==<br />
Behdienkhlam is derived from two [[Pnar language]] words: "behdein" meaning "to drive away" and "khlam" meaning "disease". The festival was intended to celebrate "chasing away the demon of cholera" in response to the eradication of [[Cholera]] disease.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://enrouteindianhistory.com/behdienkhlam-festival-driving-off-cholera/|title=Behdienkhlam festival, driving off cholera|publisher=Enroute|date=27 June 2002|access-date=1 November 2023}}</ref><br />
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==History==<br />
The festival is celebrated by the [[Pnar people]] of [[Meghalaya]]. It is the largest festival of the practitioners of the [[Niamtre]] religion and is dedicated to a good harvest and a year of plenty. The biggest Behdienkhlam festivities are conducted in [[Jowai]], [[West Jaintia Hills district]] and in Tuber Kmai, [[Jaintia Hills district|Jaintia hills]].<ref name="MT">{{Cite web|url=https://www.meghalayatourism.in/experiences-4/behdienkhlam-festival-2/|title=Behdienkhlam festival|publisher=Meghalaya tourism|access-date=1 November 2023}}</ref> The festival is celebrated annually in July after the sowing season and is an important [[dance festival]]. The festival is meant to serve as an invocation to God for wading of bad spirits and diseases and to seek blessings for a good harvest.<ref name="BF">{{Cite web|url=https://www.meghalaya.gov.in/behdienkhlam|title=Behdienkhlam|publisher=[[Government of Meghalaya]]|access-date=1 November 2023}}</ref> People pray to the deities of U Mukhai, Mulong, Mooralong and Musniang.<ref name="HT">{{Cite news|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/festivals/behdienkhlam-2022-date-history-significance-and-all-you-need-to-know-about-meghalaya-s-harvest-festival-101657716852672.html|title=Behdienkhlam 2022: Date, history, significance and all you need to know about Meghalaya's harvest festival|date=13 July 2022|newspaper=[[Hindustan Times]]|access-date=1 November 2023}}</ref><ref name="OT">{{Cite web|url=https://www.outlooktraveller.com/experiences/heritage/all-about-the-behdienkhlam-festival-of-meghalaya|title=All About The Behdienkhlam Festival Of Meghalaya|date=11 July 2023 |publisher=Outlook traveller|access-date=1 November 2023}}</ref><br />
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==Practices==<br />
During this festival, men make a symbolic gesture of driving away the evil spirits and diseases by beating the roofs of houses with bamboo poles.<ref name="MT"/> The leading religious figures of the community known as "Daloi" perform religious rites with offerings to ancestors and clans. A ritual known as "Cher iung blai" is conducted, in which the male tribal members enter a newly built thatched hut of grass and bamboo with spears and kill the demons inside it symbolically.<ref name="OT"/><ref name="HT"/><br />
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A game similar to football called Dad-lawakor is played with a wooden ball.<ref name="BF"/> Another traditional game played is the Iatan-Bhang, a tussle between two opposing groups of people over a large, stripped wooden log over Wah-eit-nar, a muddy trench with the participants smearing mud on one another.<ref name="BF"/><ref name="MT"/> The polished logs of wood and bamboo buildings are taken through the neighborhoods and plunged into Aitnar, a central pool of mud on the last day of the festival.<ref name="OT"/> People dress up and dance to drums around the Aitnar. Women do not participate in the dancing and offer sacrificial food to the spirits of their forefathers.<ref name="BF"/><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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{{Public holidays in India}}<br />
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[[Category:July observances]]<br />
[[Category:Religious festivals in India]]</div>Vikidge