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Seasonal celebrations, tribal harvest rituals, and cultural fairs of Jharkhand.

Culture Festivals
Calendar

Major Festivals of Jharkhand

Vibrant communal celebrations honoring nature, harvest, and sacred bonds.

Spring (March – April)
Sarhul (The Flower Festival)
Sarhul is the most important tribal spring festival of Jharkhand, celebrated when sal trees bloom with fresh flowers. Devotees worship the Sal tree and local nature gods (Sarna) at the village sacred grove. The day is celebrated with large processions, folk songs, and community dancing to mandar drums.
Monsoon (August – September)
Karma Festival
Karma is a youth-centric festival celebrating brotherhood and nature. Devotees fast and carry branches of the holy Karam tree to the village center. They plant the branch, perform ritualistic worship, and dance around it throughout the night. It symbolizes fertility, prosperity, and the protection of crops.
Post-Monsoon (October – November)
Sohrai (Cattle Worship & Art)
Coinciding with Diwali, Sohrai is a festival of thanksgiving to cattle for their help in agriculture. Village houses are freshly plastered with mud and decorated with stunning Sohrai mural paintings of animals and birds. Cows and bulls are bathed, decorated with garlands, and worshipped.
Spring (February – March)
Baha Parab (The Flower Feast)
Baha is the second most important festival of the Santhal tribe, celebrated to mark the arrival of spring and the blossoming of Sal and Mahua flowers. Santhals offer these flowers to the village deities in the sacred Jaher (grove) before using them. No Sal flower can be worn or brought into a house before Baha, symbolizing a strong environmental ethic.
Summer (May)
Bisu Sendra (The Hunting & Forest Feast)
Sendra is an ancient annual forest-hunting festival celebrated primarily by the Oraon tribe. Men from several villages gather and venture into the forests for a symbolic, eco-regulated hunt. The festival serves as a tribal assembly to test physical fitness, teach tracking and defense skills to youth, and settle local community disputes.
Winter (January)
Tusu Parab (Harvest Festival)
Tusu is a winter harvest festival celebrated on the day of Makar Sankranti by local agrarian communities. Young girls prepare colorful cardboard frames decorated with paper and flowers (called Tusu), which they carry to local rivers while singing traditional folk songs. Fairs (Tusu Melas) are organized across the districts.
Jharkhand festivals video cover

Watch Cultural Showcase

Experience the vibrant tribal dances, traditional folk music, and living heritage of Jharkhand in this introductory video.

Fairs & Mela

Famous Regional Fairs

Shravani Mela, Deoghar

The largest annual pilgrimage fair in eastern India, spanning the entire holy month of Shravan (July-August). Millions of pilgrims walk 105 km from Sultanganj to Baba Dham temple carrying Ganges water.

Hijla Mela, Dumka

An ancient tribal cultural fair held annually on the banks of the Mayurakshi River in Dumka. Started in 1890, it showcases tribal sports, local handlooms, and traditional dances.

Khandoli Mela, Giridih

Held during Makar Sankranti at the scenic Khandoli Dam reservoir, this fair is famous for adventure sports, local sweets, and birdwatching events.