Present Scenario
The rituals and festivities of the Oraon are in response to seasonal variations. It suggests their philosophy of maintaining harmony with the nature, securing good will of the benevolent spirits, and avoiding displeasure of the malevolent spirits (Debnath 2003).
Most of the Oraon festivals relate to their economic pursuits(Xalxo 2007). On this basis, they are categorised as food-gathering festivals, hunting festivals, festivals connected with cattle, and agricultural festivals (Roy 1928:190). In a different way they are also categorised as hunting, forest, agricultural, cattle and socio-religious gathering festivals (see Xalxo 2007). However, with the changes in the economic life of the Oraon, the practices and rituals of festivals are modified and recent studies show that the traditional functional categorisation of festivals consciously or unconsciously has changed into the family, clan, and community level festivals among the Oraon, specially living in urban areas (Biswas 2017). It has been noted that Oraon who migrated to an urban area and have different occupations have started celebrating the festivals in their respective families only. But if their clan and community people live in nearby areas they celebrate it as a group festival. The trend has been observed in the Kanke block headquarters of Ranchi district as well as in the Sisai block headquarters of Gumla district. The role of the institution of pahan is more popular and functional in rural areas of Ormanjhi block of Ranchi district and Basia block of Gumla district. However, the people of these areas who have migrated to various cities for livelihood and do not have access to pahan and other Oraon people nearby, celebrate rituals by themselves at their homes.Presently, the Oraon are far ahead of other neighbouring communities in social, economic, political, religious, and educational spheres of life (Barla 2019).
The educational development specially has modified the beliefs of Oraon in deities and spirits. Many of them with higher education stop believing in those spirits who are considered as malevolent for them. The belief in churail, bhut, and witch practices is less common in urban areas, but some incidents of performing rites and rituals to get rid of these malevolent spirits or to pacify them are still prevalent in rural areas. The cases of human sacrifices are no more observed. Offering pig and eating it during festivals are no more practised among the Oraon living in urban areas, while in some villages the practice has traditional fervour. However, the rituals related with rice beer are still in practice among all Oraons. Several taboos have been dropped due to rising awareness. Their access to education, awareness about their rights, duties, and constitutional provisions, along with measures and policy keep them moving forward in all areas of life (Xaxa 2005). However, they are still concerned with the environment and show their obligation towards it; respecting totems related to birds, trees, flowers, fish, and animals is one of the practices having link with environmental conservation (Xaxa 1992). During the field observation it has been noted that all the Oraons, whether Christian converts, Sarna followers, followers of Bhakti cult, or Hinduised ones, have retained their totem name which shows that with all these years ‘clan’ is the most stable identity among them. Followers of Sarna conduct traditional marriage rituals as identity markers. It has been found that convert Oraons also follow traditional marriage rituals to a certain extent at home and then go for a ‘church wedding’ (Arati 2021). The converts still try to follow exogamy and tribe endogamy, but if they do not get the proper match, they take spouse from other communities also. A non-convert Oraon with higher education now prefers a spouse of his choice, but marriage follows traditional norms. However, the community feast organised at different stages of traditional marriage got modified into ‘reception parties.’ It is to be mentioned that land law and property law affect the partner choice among Oraon people. For example, if an Oraon marries outside the community he is deprived of his father’s property. Roles of parha and panch are visible on various occasions like marriage, festival celebration, and in maintaining the morality standard.At present educated Oraon people shift largely to non-agricultural occupations. Many of them even migrate owing to poor agricultural production also. These variations in livelihood sources impacted the festival practices among the Oraon. Their festivals can be categorised as ‘ideal type’, which are the traditional ones and the ‘modern type’, which are influenced and borrowed from the Hindu community (Biswas 2017). It has also been noted that traditional festivals, especially the sarhul is now celebrated in different modes with many modified practices in both urban as well as rural areas. It is celebrated on a very large scale unlike in the old times where it was celebrated within the village only. At present, specially in urban areas, the celebration of sarhul involves the large gathering of Oraon people from all over the district in the form of jhanki. This jhanki is also used as a platform to show the tribal culture as identity marker in front of other communities. Now- a-days, a good coverage from media has been also seen; many political leaders belonging to different communities join this celebration. This large scale of events converted sarhul from a community level festival to a festival of inter-community dimension in the festival map of Jharkhand. Christian converts also take part in these celebrations as a symbol of maintaining their tribal identity. However, the current celebration of sarhul in urban areas involves political leaders belonging to different communities. The scale of events organised during this celebration is the sign of beginning of tribal festivals accompanied by dance and music of Oraon community.
The articles used in various festivals are now available in market as a commodity and the practice of making them in community is decreasing day by day. Similarly, the way of contribution during the festival celebration is modified from providing kind to cash, often the amount being decided by the panch. The recognition of festivals and their importance by the government and employer organisation also impact the mode of celebration. Institutions working in an area, where the festival is celebrated, declare a holiday and facilitate their Oraon employees to celebrate it with family members. It has been seen that time constraints have impacted participation. At the same time festivals like Karam, Jitia, and Sohrai which have the involvement of other communities have become more popular among the Oraon, particularly those living in urban areas.The improved facility related to health, awareness regarding nutrition, and disease control impact birth practices and rituals. Delivery in hospitals and access to health facilities in urban areas have reduced incidents of rituals related with protection from evil eyes and spirits. The birth rituals related to birth of a child and community involvement have been modified due to the influence of the Hindu community. It has been observed that the transportation facility and advancement in technology have expanded the sphere of interaction and participation from neighbouring communities. Several taboos relating to child birth have been relaxed or abolished.
7.3