Jura Parab is a famous festival celebrated by the Dongria Kondh tribes in
Bissamcuttack of
Rayagada District,
Orissa. It is celebrated as part of
Dussehra, during the month of Ashvina (September-October).
In this festival, the tribes perform a series of buffalo sacrifices dedicated to the earth goddess. They also offer a newly made wooden sword to Durga Penu - a Kondh female deity modeled after Durga. The noted feature of the festival is that the ritual practice consisting of the stealing of the sacrificed buffalo’s meat.
On the fifth day of the celebrations, after a share of buffalo-meat has been already distributed among the inhabitants of the host village and their external clan-kin, outsiders are invited to the festival. The festival ends with a feast at which guests cook the buffalo-meat they have obtained from the priest.
