Culture of Siwan
Siwan is a small district of Bihar is famous for its religious and historical heritage. The overall cultural scenario of the district reflects an integration of distinct prevalent traditions of the city. The major part of the district is dominated by Hindus, while influence of Muslim culture is also reflected in the region owing to large population of Muslims in the area. Great hospitality and purity in culture makes an everlasting impression on tourist and people traveling to the district.
Though, the district has developed a lot from early days and is still developing, but at present, the traditional Bihari culture is what that rules the region. Besides this, it is even a home for many tribal communities who influence the culture of Siwan a lot.Traditional dance, colorful costumes and intriguing customs of the district attract large number of tourist from all parts of globe.People of Siwan continues to talk and carry on their language Bhojpuri. Being known for their heritage and mythologies, the city is successfully passing its culture to the coming generation.
Folk Songs and Dances of Siwan
The district of Siwan follows its own traditional form of dance known as ‘Jhijhiya’. This is folk dance of Siwan that is performed to please the god of rain, Indra. Young ladies and girls of the district perform this dance while offering prayers to the god for good rain and good crop.In addition to this, there is also ‘Chhau’ dance practiced in some regions of the district. This is a mask dance which is performed by males. It is a marital-art form of dance that was earlier performed during fights.However, presently, it is carried at end of month of Chaitra, which is the sun season in order to welcome the pleasing season. Vigorous movements, high leaps, all form major constituents of Chhau dance.Festivals in Siwan
The festivals in Siwan district are celebrated with great zeal and gusto. All festivals are very much colorful and are carried to promote feeling of brotherhood and societal unity.Chatth Puja is a major festival of Siwan, which is celebrated with immense faith among the people. It is mainly a Hindu festival that is celebrated twice a year. It is once enjoyed in month of Chaitra, that is summers, and once in month of Kartik, that is during beginning of winters. This festival is rejoiced to please the Sun god, which is locally termed as Surya Shastri.
Makar Sakranti is another famous and enjoyable festival of Siwan district. The local people celebrate this festival during beginning of summers and enjoy it a lot. It is also known as ‘Tila Sankranti’ and is considered as a major festival of harvest season in Siwan as well as in major parts of India. The festival also symbolizes commencing of a new, auspicious year in Indian culture.Holi is the third and other most enjoyable festival of Siwan. The people of Siwan celebrate this festival in extremely colorful and joyful manner. It is even one of the biggest festivals of the district, during which the entire atmosphere is charged up.
Art and Craft in Siwan
The people of Siwan district are highly fond of art and craft activities. There is heavy interest laid by district’s women over such activities. There are extremely high quality handlooms prepared by local people.The handlooms are mainly processed without use of any machinery and are available in all local markets of the region. High quality handlooms are even exported to other regions close to Siwan and even in regions across India.There are also beautiful handmade paintings crafted by people of Siwan, known as ‘Madhubani paintings’. These paintings symbolize a traditional Indian wedding. The villagers do not use any sort of brushes but simple bamboo sticks, which are stick with wads of cotton.Even the colors and dyes used in these paintings are prepared from vegetable dyes and are purely of natural origin. Traditionally, these paintings were outlined on mud walls of houses, but now things have transformed and they are created on canvas and paper.Cuisines of Siwan
