Kati Bihu 2023: Everything you need to know about festival of lights, prayers and crop protection

Kati Bihu, an annual festival marking the beginning of the new harvest season, is being celebrated on October 18 this year. It falls on the first day of the Kati month in the Assamese calendar, usually in mid-October.

The festival, observed across Assam, symbolises the transplanting of rice crops. Homes are adorned with lit lamps, and bamboo pathways are made to honour the ancestors.

The tulsi plant is purified and placed on a platform called Tulsi Bheti during Kati Bihu. The festival includes making offerings and praying for the welfare of families and a bountiful harvest. A special lamp called 'Akash Banti' or Sky Candle is lit in paddy fields.

These mustard oil lamps are placed on bamboo poles and are thought to guide ancestors in the afterlife. All three Bihu festivals have agricultural significance and mark different farming cycle stages. Kati Bihu, also known as Kongali Bihu, occurs when rice seedlings are transplanted.

It reflects Assam's cultural heritage, rooted in agriculture and spirituality, reminding people of their connection to the land and their duty to protect and nurture it.

The lighting of lamps, symbolic of hope and guidance, highlights life and traditions continuity. The term Kongali Bihu comes from the period's typically empty granaries and scarce consumption.

To counteract the darkness and hardship, lamps or candles are lit throughout the house, with a central lamp near the sacred Tulsi plant, symbolising hope.

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