Coronavirus mars Bihu celebrations in Assam, frontline health workers feted by organiers

The Rongali Bihu or Bohag Bihu, Assam's biggest cultural festival is all about going out, dancing to the tunes of dhol (drums) and pepa (a musical instrument) in open fields or courtyards, hugging each other and seeking blessings from the elders.

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The fear of Coronavirus and the lockdown to prevent its spread kept most Assamese indoors on Monday, the first day of the seven-day-long Bihu celebrations. The first day, known as Goru Bihu is normally dedicated to cattle when people in rural areas bathe their cattle in ponds or rivers. Most, this time, however, did the rituals at homes or in own ponds.

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Organisers of the Bihu programmes cancelled this year's celebrations including open field or stage performances in order to maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus. "Only a few of us gathered in the morning at the historic Latasil playground, hoisted our traditional flag and sang the Bihu anthem. We also prayed to the Almighty to increase strength and capacity of our scientists so that they can come up with a vaccine and medicines to defeat COVID-19 soon," said Kailash Sarma, an organiser of Guwahati Bihu Sanmilani, one of the oldest Bihu functions in Guwahati.

Another organiser in Tezpur, considered Assam's cultural capital deviated from its age-old practice to felicitate the senior citizens and instead felicitated ASHA workers of health department, who are one of the frontline health workforces in the ongoing fight against Coronavirus.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, while greeting people on the occasion of Rongali Bihu urged every households to light an earthen lamp on Tuesday evening at their homes and pray the Almighty so that the darkness brought by the Coronavirus disappears fast. "We all should pray so that God gives us more strength and power to defeat the darkness and stay healty for all the times to come," Sonowal said.

The state health department had earlier issued an advisory asking all Bihu organisers to limit the celebrations into only the rituals and abide by the social distancing norms aimed to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. The state police on Sunday released a video in which policemen were seen singing, dancing and playing the traditional instruments in traditional Bihu attires to create awareness about the need of social distancing, during the Bihu celebrations.

Assam has reported 30 COVID-19 positive cases so far.

Many residents even recorded video of their Bihu dances and the rituals while staying indoors and posted them on social media plaforms like Facebook and Twitter, urging others to do so.