The Tharu community residing in and around Triyuga Municipality, Udayapur, celebrated the traditional Raib festival, observed on Sundays in the month of Bhadra, following the completion of rice planting.
This year, the festival was celebrated in various Tharu settlements, including Bagaha, Motigada, Deuri, Jogidaha, Khaijanpur, and Mothyai, as well as in the Hadia, Sundarpur, and Belahi areas of Chaudandigadhi Municipality.
According to Dulliram Chaudhary, chairman of the Tharu Welfare Committee in Udayapur, the Raib festival is celebrated every year from the first to the last Sunday of Bhadra month. The Tharu people observe the festival by abstaining from salt in their diet for the entire day, consuming only curd, beaten rice (chiura), sweets (jeri), and fruits. The day begins with a ritual bath in the river, followed by worship of the Sun God and ancestral deities by the head of the household.
Dhaniprasad Chaudhary of Motigada, Triyuga Municipality-3, explained that the festival is rooted in the belief that during the rice planting season in Ashar and Shrawan months, many innocent creatures like insects and bugs are unintentionally killed. The Raib festival is observed to pray for the peace of their souls, with the tradition of abstaining from salt and worshipping the Sun God and ancestral deities on one Sunday in Bhadra.
Devilal Chaudhary, a Tharu community leader from Gaighat, added that the Raib festival is a time-honored practice where Tharu people, after completing the rice planting, observe a day of fasting without salt, eating only fruits, curd, and beaten rice, in remembrance of the innocent creatures that died during the planting season.
The Tharu community leaders in Triyuga Municipality continue to uphold this tradition, celebrating the Raib festival annually on a Sunday in Bhadra, just as their ancestors did after completing the rice planting season.
