Magh & Rongali Bihu

Bihu is the soul of Assam, celebrated three times a year but most vividly twice: Magh (Bhogali) Bihu in January is the harvest thanksgiving of community feasts and bonfires (meji), when villages build bamboo-and-thatch huts, cook and eat together through the night; and Rongali (Bohag) Bihu in mid-April is the Assamese New Year and spring festival, a week of joyous husori dancing, courtship songs, and the fast, graceful Bihu dance performed by young men and women in traditional muga silk.

For a visitor, Rongali Bihu in April is the one to catch: the whole state comes alive with music, dance competitions, feasting and open-hearted hospitality, and it is the best window into living Assamese culture.