Jowai, July 13: Behdeinkhlam, the annual religious festival of the Pnars of Jaintia hills, where thousands of people participated, culminated here today.

Behdeinkhlam, which literally means "chasing away the demon of plague", is celebrated annually in the last week of June or the first week of July - after the sowing period is over - to appease the harvest gods.

Amid offering of prayers and chanting of couplets, the grand festival culminated at the Aitnar sacred pool here, around 65km from Shillong.

Jowai is the district headquarters of West Jaintia Hills.

Behdeinkhlam is one of the most significant festivals of Meghalaya, mainly celebrated by those who practise Ka niamtre (indigenous faith).

It is an agrarian festival and expresses the relationship between man and God, man and nature and man with man.

 

At the community level, Behdeinkhlam is a joint effort to drive away evils and diseases where the prayers and sacrifices offered to God are for good health of economy and society.

The festival here is celebrated for four days and three nights. It is also during this festival that family members and relatives who stay afar come back to their homes and spend time with their dear ones.

Being the ultimate day of Behdeinkhlam, the day was filled with prayers, worship and fanfare.

At Aitnar, people of different localities brought with them colourful raths (chariots) for immersion. The raths had different messages ranging from the inter-state border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya to importance of yoga and need to protect the environment.

As the raths, 12 in number, descended at the Aitnar sacred pool, hundreds of men and boys danced to the beat of traditional drums.

Governor V. Shanmuganathan and Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari set foot in the pool, drawing loud applause from the audience.

Women do not participate in the dancing, but they have an important role to play at home by offering and harmony , which are ruining the lives of humans. A particular rath stressed the importance of yoga with a message "Yoga teaches you how to listen to your body".

Another rath had the message - "The earth is in our hands: earth was created for all of us, not for some of us."