HT Bureau
DIPHU, Jan 9: Five prominent Karbi organisations have issued a joint appeal for a unified celebration of Hacha Kekan on January 14, aiming to elevate the traditional post-harvest festival.
The Karbi Cultural Society (KCS), Karbi Rong Asar Amei (KRAA), Karbi Anglong Rong Asar Amei (KARAA), Sarkari Goan Buras (SGBs) and the Karbi Film Society met at the KCS Central Committee office in Taralangso on Friday. They urged every Karbi household to light lamps in homes and granaries on the evening of January 14 to mark the harvest’s arrival.
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KCS president Humsing Bey highlighted the festival’s deep spiritual and social significance. “In our oral history, it was Songsar Richo (the heavenly deities) who introduced paddy, known then as Kathi, to our ancestors,” he said.
The festival celebrates the transition of grain from the fields to the home, a process called Sok Keroi, followed by the traditional Hacha Kekan dance performed before the village headman to invoke blessings for year-long food security. The Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) has declared January 14 and 15 as public holidays. The central celebration at Taralangso on January 15 will feature a menu exclusively of ethnic Karbi cuisine.
