Key Takeaways:

• Sama-Chakewa festival has begun across the Mithila region
• The festival celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters
• Women gather for traditional songs, dances and rituals over 10 days
• Married women often return to their parental homes to participate
• The festival is widely observed across Madhesh and neighbouring Mithila communities in India

JANAKPURDHAM, NOVEMBER 14 The Sama-Chakewa festival, a traditional celebration of the bond between brothers and sisters, has begun across the Mithila region, bringing women and girls together for rituals, songs and cultural gatherings that will continue for 10 days. The festival begins on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of Kartik and concludes on the night of the full moon. According to cultural scholar Ram Kumar Shastri, sisters and daughters mark the start of the festival by collecting mud dug up by their brothers and using it to create figures of Sama and Chakewa, central symbols of the celebration. The figures are placed in bamboo baskets alongside oil lamps and carried to village squares, crossroads, schools, temples and Chhath ghats, where women gather in the evenings to sing, dance and offer prayers for the health, prosperity and long life of their brothers. The festival culminates on the full-moon day with the preparation of new figures and the performance of traditional rituals. After serving their brothers dahi-chiura (yoghurt and beaten rice), sisters participate in the customary phanr bharne ceremony before the figures are ceremonially immersed, marking the end of the festival. Traditionally, married women return to their parental homes to take part in the celebrations, making the occasion an important period of family reunion across the Mithila region. The festival is widely observed in the Madhesh districts of Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Siraha, Saptari, Bara and Parsa, as well as in adjoining areas across the border in India.