About Behdeinkhlam Festival:
- Beh Dien means to drive away the plague with sticks and prayers and Khlam means plague or pestilence.
- It is a significant cultural festival celebrated by the Pnar community in Meghalaya.
- It translates to “driving away the plague” or “chasing away the demon of cholera”;
- It is a festival that seeks to ward off evil spirits, diseases, misfortune, and invoke blessings for a good harvest and communal prosperity.
- It is celebrated annually in July after the sowing period.
- Rituals of Behdeinkhlam Festival
- The main part of the festival was the making of the Dein Khlam and Khnong which are rounded, polished and straight tree trunks from the forest.
- During the cultural festival tour, young men make a symbolic gesture of driving away of the evil spirit, plague and disease by beating of the roof of every house with bamboo poles.
- It is carried out for three days and on the last day, in the afternoon people would gather in a place called Aitnar and both young and old would dance to the tunes of the pipes and drums.
- On the final day people would converge to a place called Mynthong to witness a game played similar to football, called dad-lawakor.
