Karama Festival

The Karama Festival is one of the chief festivals that is celebrated with pomp and grandeur by the aboriginal tribes of Orissa. The tribesmen belonging to the Oraon, Bhumij, Binijhals Tribes, Kol, Bhuiyan, Kisan and Ho communities as well as the lower caste Hindus primarily celebrate this festival. The festal ceremony is commences during the Indian months of Bhadrapada meaning the mellow autumn months of August and September in the Greogrian calender. During the fall season, the bucolic hamlets and the indigenous tribal villages located in the districts of Keonjhar, Sundergarh, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj, Bolangir are all decked up in festive fervor.

Although a tribal ceremony, the Karama festival has immense significance from the religious perspective. The focal point of the festival is centered on the worship of the revered cult God Karama or Goddess Karamasani who is held in high esteem by the tribal populace. The deity is symbolized by the branch of the venerable Karama tree. Celebrated during the sunnier part of the dreary monsoon, the Karama festival is more often than not organized on the eleventh day of the gay and cheerful fortnight. This festival provides the poverty shrouded and socially impoverished tribal people to spice up their lives with some color and goodwill and indulge in some mirth and merriment.

One of the eminent Orissa festivals, the celebrations involve a group of tribals who are accompanied by drums and percussion instruments to enter the Karama forests. The tribal people cut a few branches that are then carted back by the unmarried damsels and planted in the center of their village. The priest of their clan. The 'Jhankar' or 'Dehuri' then offers gram and liquor to appease the deities and seek their benediction in order to attain wealth and prosperity.