The ten-day festival, Sume-Gelirak is an important festival for the
Bonda tribe of
Koraput District in
Orissa. During the first few days they worship their traditional Gods and demons. The tribal priest does the rituals of sacrificing animals and birds and propitiating the deities with liquor. Young men and women participate in dancing and singing.
The dramatic part of the festival is the castigation initiated by little boys, to the accompaniment of drum beats. The boys stand in pairs and strike each other as hard as they can with pliant branches of a tree. It is repeated with young men and even the old. After this they salute each other and embrace, and another pair takes their place. At last, the Sisa (tribal priest) gives cakes to stop all quarrels and delivers a little lecture on friendship and good behavior. The participants bow to each other with folded hands and start dancing and then hitting hard with the branches. Then they touch each other's feet and embrace, hugging and lifting each other in the air.
