Virtual Tour to State Tribal Museum: Oraon Festivals and Costumes

Bhubaneswar: The Oraon is an agrarian tribe of Odisha. They are mostly found in Sunderagarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Keonjhar. Their major occupation are cultivation, agricultural labour, mining, quarrying. Visitors can visit the State Tribal Museum virtually on 27 th December. One can visit the Oraon Festivals and costumes by opening the Facebook and Twitter pages @stscdev, @scstrti.

This video displays some of the Oraon Festivals and costumes. The Oraon believe in the importance of human life and its interconnectedness with nature. They celebrate this connection with social systems of interdependence and festivals that marks the change of seasons with ritual dance, music and feasting. Important among these is the cattle festival held to honour animals, essentials to the livelihood of the community. Being primarily agriculturists they have taken advantage of modern techniques adopting fertilizers, pesticides and improved seeds. The Oraon live in mixed ethnicity villages.

The traditional dress of the Oraon is made of coarse white cotton woven with red. The men wear loin cloth or ‘Kareya’. The women wear the ‘Khanria’. Both articles being woven by the local weaver community.

Continued contact with other communities in recent years led to the decline in the use of traditional garments. These garments have quickly been replaced by modern clothing; shirts made of traditional fabrics are now popular on festive occasions. While fake coin necklace and anklets are worn for dances; tattooing which was once common on Oraon women is also no longer popular.