News: President Droupadi Murmu received a Ramman mask at a special Uttarakhand Assembly session, spotlighting this centuries-old Garhwal festival.
About Ramman Festival
- It is a multiform cultural event that reflects the community’s environmental, spiritual, and cultural concepts and recounts its founding myths.
- Location associated with: Twin villages of Saloor-Dungra in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli.
- It strengthens community self-worth by combining theatre, music, historical reconstructions, and traditional oral and written tales.
- Time: Celebrated annually in late April during Baisakhi.
- Dedicated to: It is dedicated to the tutelary god Bhumiyal Devta.
- Festival premises: Most festivities occur at the temple of Bhumiyal Devta.
- UNESCO Recognition: Inscribed in 2009 on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
- Key Features
- Ritual Theatre:
- The festival stages the Ramayana and local legends as full theatrical performances.
- Performers wear 18 distinct masks made from Bhojpatra (Himalayan birch).
- The masks are accompanied by make-up using sheep’s wool, honey, vermilion, wheat flour, oil, turmeric, soot and locally grown plants and vegetables.
- Dances:
- The sequence begins with an invocation to god Ganesha.
- It includes the Sun God dance and an enactment of the myth of the birth of Brahma and Ganesha.
- Other dances feature Bur Deva alongside Krishna and Radhika.
- The dance sets depict local livelihoods and hardships, for example Mwar-Mwarin shows buffalo herders facing a tiger attack, while Baniya-Baniyain portrays a trader couple being robbed.
- Musicals:
- The local Ramkatha is sung in carefully measured rhythm, covering a total of 324 beats and steps.
- The Jagar tradition is also performed as part of the musical narration.
- Storytelling: The festival uses historical reconstructions and both oral and written tales to present founding myths and everyday community life.
- Caste-based Roles: Different castes have specific, hereditary roles in the festival, reflecting a strong community structure.
- Ritual Theatre:
