How many of us know about the Karam festival?

Bangladesh is home to around three million indigenous peoples (IPs) from more than 50 ethnic backgrounds, according to the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples' Forum. They belong to the most disadvantaged sections of Bangladeshi society and face multiple challenges that include economic, cultural, social and political marginalisation. Indigenous communities, with their distinct languages, traditions, cultures, values and customs, contribute significantly to the beauty, development and sustainability of the country. Bangladesh can surely take pride in these communities who not only present diverse cultural life—their languages and cultures also enrich the languages and cultural life of the majority Bengalis, as many linguistic and cultural experts assert.

Many songs, dances and other cultural elements of the Bengali lifestyle are rooted in indigenous culture. Nevertheless, the cultural, spiritual and religious traditions and customs of the indigenous peoples of the plain land are nowadays conducted sporadically. The disruption of this process has negatively impacted the indigenous people's knowledge system of plants, animals and natural phenomena. Karam, one of the major festival of the Munda, Oraon, Santal, Manhali, Mahato and other indigenous communities from plain lands, is an example of one such traditional cultural expression that also has a close link to nature.

The Karam deity (the god of power, youth and youthfulness) is worshipped during this festival. Many plain land indigenous peoples worship the Karam tree (symbol of the Karam deity) during this festival as they are a source of livelihood, and they pray to Mother Nature to keep their farmlands green and ensure a rich harvest. It is believed that the worship for good germination increases the fertility of grain crops and that the Karam deity will bring blessings and wealth, along with a good harvest. But due to deforestation and illegal logging, the Karam tree is now becoming extinct.

The Karam festival is held in the Bangla month of Bhadra (July to August), on the eleventh day of the full moon (purnima) cycle. The preparations begin around two weeks before the festival. The devotees keep a day long fast and worship the branches of the Karam tree. Girls celebrate the festival for welfare, friendship and sisterhood by exchanging hibiscus (jawa) flowers. During the festival, the young people approach the forests, singing songs and dancing along to drum beats while collecting branches of the trees. The branches are usually carried by young, unmarried girls who sing and praise the deity. Afterwards, the branches are planted at the centre of the festival ground by the priest and adorned with flowers. Then, the purohit (priest) as well as the indigenous community conduct the worship of the Karam tree together. They believe that the Karam tree is equal to the protector. They also believe that in the past, when they were driven away by the Aryans, the Karam deity gave them refuge in the form of the Karam tree. From then on, out of gratitude, they celebrate this Karam festival.

This festival brings together around 3.5 lakh indigenous peoples of the northern districts (16 districts under Rajshahi and Rangpur division) of Bangladesh. However, this Karam festival (an intangible cultural heritage of IPs in north-western Bangladesh) is now at risk due to the threats of modern civilisation, the motivations of people in certain communities and practices that have made the country's intangible heritage extinct or at risk in many communities. Dispossession of traditional land and natural resources has also led to political, socioeconomic and cultural deprivation of IPs living in this region. Additionally, a lack of acknowledgement of their customary laws in the statutory laws of the country have marginalised their indigenous knowledge on the management of natural resources.

The situation has continued to become more aggravated over the last few decades with the coming of the era of economic development, which is being aggressively pursued by private companies. In addition, indigenous peoples are being pushed out or evicted from their ancestral land in the name of conservation of natural resources. According to a report published in this daily in 2013, plain land indigenous communities, including Santal, Hajong, Khashi, Oraon, Dalu, Patro and Pahan, lost over six lakh bigha of land to land-grabbers over the last 30 years.

The Constitution of Bangladesh safeguards the rights of indigenous peoples in Article 23(A), which states that the state shall take steps to protect and develop the unique local culture and tradition of tribes, ethnic sects and communities. However, while the need to promote and protect the cultures of indigenous peoples are acknowledged, a disproportionately higher level of emphasis is placed on the languages and cultures that constitute the "mainstream". Research on national policies relating to indigenous peoples in Bangladesh have shed light on the dire need to make the IPs more familiar with and "involved" in the mainstream in order to protect their cultural practices. Article 11(1) and 31(1) of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples also reaffirms that indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the right to practice and revitalise their cultural traditions and customs.

Nonetheless, indigenous peoples continue to assert and practice their distinctive ways of life, worldwide as well as in Bangladesh, in an increasingly shrinking space. The need for safeguarding cultural diversity, with special reference to the IPs, is presented in the National Culture Policy 2006 as well as the Small Ethnic Groups Cultural Institute Act of 2010, and has also found expression in Article 23A of the amended constitution of Bangladesh. Nevertheless, there is considerable scope for improving the functioning of existing institutions and implementation of their activities to better reflect the commitments of the government to preserving endangered cultural heritages.

Khokon Suiten Murmu is project coordinator of Kapaeeng Foundation, central cabinet member of Jatiya Adivasi Parishad (JAP) and national committee member of Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum (BIPF).

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