This Bihu, Vaccine-themed Bhela Ghar in Assam Will Warn People to Not Let Their Guards Down

The locals in Amonikhali village in Assam’s Raha have constructed a unique bhela ghar for the Magh Bihu festival which will be celebrated on January 13 and 14. A bhela ghar, which is regarded as the most preferred place for the evening feast on the eve of Bihu, will this time urge people to vaccinate themselves and also those around them.

Made of bamboo and paddy thatch, the 150-squarefeet temporary structure depicts doctors and nurses injecting a massive syringe into an omicron cell.

“We started working on the Bhelaghar form the December 1, right after the harvesting was over. On an average, 10 to 12 people worked on it daily. The structure has a height of 25 feet and is made from loads of thatch and around 200 bamboos. We spent about one lakh rupees to construct it. While working on the theme for the traditional bhela ghar this year, we thought of making it more meaningful,” said Bhagwan Senapati, President of the Amonikhali Bihu organising committee.

“It’s a difficult time for all of us, a time to be more cautious and responsible. We have made the bhela ghar as a long syringe carried by a doctor and a nurse to be injected into a covid cell. As close to 400 people are expected to gather in the Bhela Ghar for the Uruka community feast, the makeshift hut shall remind all of their responsibility towards vaccination. It’s our humble effort to assist the government in this cause,” explained Senapati.

Just as in the rest of the country, the booster dose has been initiated in Assam, too, where a total of 2,918 cases were recorded on Sunday and positivity rate stood at 4.49 per cent. Capital Kamprup district accounted for 60 cases and there were two covid-related deaths reported, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a tweet.

Its rush hours in the villages around this time of the year. Youth join hands in constructing Mejis and bhela ghars. The bhela ghars are most designed on iconic Ahom monuments such as the Rangh Ghar and Tolatol Ghor. This one in Mushalpur depicts a more social concern that of the grave man-elephant conflict. The shape and design of these Bhelaghar differs in its structural and social connotation in Upper and Lower Assam.

Bhela ghar is a temporary night shelter and used as a community feast hall, made of thatch, bamboo, straws and dried leaves. It is an object of visual pleasure on uruka — the night before Bihu.

It holds immense cultural significance. Encased in rustic design that is simple but robust, a bhela ghar can accommodate a couple of people who opt to spend the uruka night inside it. It is built mostly in open spaces and a dried paddy field provides a safe option as it is burnt in full spirit on Bihu.

While Chief Minister Sarma has asked people to end all Uruka celebrations and community feasting this time, several Bihu organisations have requested the government to relax the night celebrations till 12am and prepone the morning timing to 5am.

“On Uruka night, people gather for community feasting. It takes time to prepare the feast, feed all and then wrap up things. If the night curfew on the day of Uruka is pushed to 12 am, it will give people enough time to enjoy the evening and observe all protocols and reach home safely. We also want the morning restrictions to end at 5sm so we can offer our prayers to the rising sun by lighting the Meiji and 6am will be late for that,” said Prince Firoze Haque, president Greater Guwahati Bihu Xanmilani Samanay Rakshay Samiti.

Mostly made from wood, bamboo, straw, hay and dried banana leaves, Meiji for some communities of the state is a representation of the funeral pyre of the godfather of the Panadavas and Kauravas from Mahabharata.

Traditionally, after taking a bath, people crowd around the Meji and light it with a bamboo flame. They pay their obeisance and seek blessings from the holy pyre and then offer peetha, lentils, sesame and sweets to the holy fire.

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