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Tiki Chawle(boiled rice)- Have you ever imagined the rice we get on our plate everyday goes through what all processes to get dehusked and cleaned!!! The process of removing husk from paddy to obtain rice is tricky and the process followed makes the rice more or less healthy and tasty. Moisture content in the paddy during dehusking plays a great role to get perfect whole rice.
There are different methods of dehusking followed in different regions. In some places paddy is stored underground for a period of time and then processed.
In my place(generally the people of Mayurbhanj) we follow a 2 to 3 days long process of preparing paddy for dehusking which has 3 distinct steps. 

Step1- A measured quantity of paddy is soaked in hot water for 7-8hours and it has to be done very carefully. Over-soaking results in removal of the outer brown-reddish coating of the rice called bran. Bran makes rice healthy and tasty 😋. 

Step2- Steaming of soaked paddy. All water from the soaking container is drained out and steamed or separate container is used for steaming. Usually smaller containers are used so that it can be easily taken down from the chulha* by one person immediately after the water content in the paddy has been evaporated completely. If the container is not immediately removed, paddy at the base starts burning and the entire lot will smell burnt while eating rice made out of it. In this step the rice inside the husk is almost cooked and it makes the rice strong as a unit so that it doesn't break in parts during rigorous beating in dehusking process. 15kg of paddy in an earthen container may take 40-45minutes to be steamed properly.
 
Step3- Drying of steamed paddy. Usually dried under sun. Slow drying is always better. An expert can always know whether the paddy needs more drying or not just by touch, feel and wieght of a handful of it. As I said slow drying is better, it takes 4-5 hours in sunny days(ok ok) and 7-8hours(best result) in medium dry condition and 30-40 hours(not preferred) in rainy days. After drying, the paddy is kept in shadow till its temperature cools down to room temp. Then it is dehusked in mortar or rice mill. 
 

Believe me the rice made in this process tastes ways different from the packed rice we buy from market. Most of the time the rice we get in market is polished too much to look shiny and appealing. The polishing process unfortunately removes the thin outer coat, the bran as mentioned earlier. This is the reason why many a times the rice we eat doesn't taste as good as it looks to be.

The image of rice given below is completely processed by me. I have been doing this from my childhood and yet to reach the level of perfection I have seen in other women of my village. Well.. repeated effort is the only key to perfection when there is no short cut available ❤️. Infact there is no short cut available in mastering an art.

#healthyfood, #homemade #madebyme #desirice #boiledrice #baskeydaka #mandidaka #dakameansrice #villagelife #triballife #foodprocessing #rurallife

In our day to day practice we eat rice in Kansa bowls. It enhances the taste of food but avoid serving pickle and other sour tasting food on Kansa utensils, it yields a bitter taste.

Santali sarees and dhotis with different colors

Now a days the phuta kacha is available in 3-4 colors with embroidered motifs on it. The pattern of the checks remains the same though. 

White phuta kachas with maroon and green checks.

Orange phuta kacha

Green and white Jhalah

The sarees are also available in 3-4 different colors. But green and white ones are more popular.

The attire is getting more popularity as it is being used as a symbol of unity in any social or political gathering.

Baha Banga

Sagun Baha Banga

It's winter and it's harvesting season 

 

Small art and crafts of Santals

There are a lot of arts traditionally prctised by santal folks. Their way of building the houses, thatching the roof , decorating the floor, carving the doors and painting the walls tell a lot about the artistic skills of santals.

The santals lifestyle and culture is full of arts, you will be surprised to see a woman carrying multiple waterpots with full of water, one holding at the left waist, one at the head and another on right hand.

It is pleasant to see the women making leaf plates out of 7 sal leaves, a bowl made of 2 or 1 leaves. Brooms and mats made in different types of grass with the help of some braiding technique.

Santals make rice beer with rice and particular  root powder added to it. Another drink made out of mahua flowers which is sometimes 85% concentrated alcohol. They dilute it with adding some normal water to it.

There are many more things to be documented about the art of santals. Some of which are vanishing in their day to day practice like removing the husk of rice in the traditional Dhinki. Making of gungu(leaf made rain coat-image  shown on the top ), which was being used by the Santal women during working in the paddy field in rainy season. Now a days it has been replaced by the plastic rain coats.

Santali Dance Forms

The Santal traditionally accompany many of their dances with two drums: the Tamak‘ and the Tumdak’. The flute (tiriao) was considered the most important Santal traditional instrument and still evokes feelings of nostalgia for many Santals.

Baha Enej: Baha enej is performed during the eve of Baha festival. Literally 'baha' means flower in santali. So this is the festival in the beginning of spring season. The people sing and dance to welcome the new season.

•Dang Enej:

Their courtship and marriage dances are typical. The young men come forward taking strides with drums and lilting songs on their lips, and then the dance commences in two rows, their arms interlinking in pairs. The rows surge forward like rhythmic waves and then recede with supple footwork and swaying heads and bodies. The boys in the row opposite play on flutes, drums, and large cymbals and sing songs in perfect harmony. After the dance the boys and girls mingle and have a good chat.

•Lagne Enej:                           

Lange are exclusively confined to women. The Lagne has many forms and variations according to the occasion, be it a marriage, a festival or social gathering.

•Jhika Enej:

Then there are the Jhika dance in which men and women dance together. Men form the outer ring and the women the inner circle.

•Dahar Enej:

Dahar is danced at day and during the festival of Gamha parab.

•Karam Enej:

Assar, Shravan and Bhadrav that is June to September. They worship the karam tree to protect the village from bad evils.

All these dances reflect their collective nature, cohesion, community feeling and social awareness. They are great spontaneous collective singers and dancers.

•Danta:

The martial dances - Golwari and Paikha are marked with a lot of jumping and leaping in the air. They carry bow and arrows while doing martial dances and perform mock fights and attacks. This shows their bravery and skills and knowledge to use their weapons.

•Dassai:

They have their hunting and sowing dances. On Dassai men-folk dance from one locality to another. The people put on make ups and colorful costumes during this dance. Generally they wear the sarees in the form of skirts by folding them as bottom accompanied by a vest as a upper garment. The dancers wear turbans also made of sarees. The turbans sometimes fall till their knee or anlke length at back.They hold the props like sword and musical instrument called Bhuang and Ghanti.

There is a story behind the purpose of dance, there was a Santal King who possessed a good amount of wealth and food grains for his people. The king had a daughter who was charming and good in behaviour. Once the princess was kidnapped by the kings enemy and not found any where when searched. Then the kings sent a group of warriors to search for the princess. The warriors dressed up themselves like dance performers, used their weapons like musical instruments and props for dance. They behaved like normal people,visited every house of the villages and asked for water, rice or grains in a hope to get any clue about the princess.They got pleasant reception by the village people hence realized that not only the king but also the people in his empire are rich with food grains and living happily. After many days of searching, they found the enemies, fought with them and saved the princess.The king got back his daughter and praised the bravery of the warriors. To remember this incident the people generally the young men travel many villages followed by dance and songs about sawing and hunting.

The Santal women and girls can be seen singing and dancing while engaged in their daily chore like sowing, plantation, journeying to and from the forest. They work and sing simultaneously and in between pause for a round of dance. They use song and music as a convenient tool of dancing.