Santal
people have very joyous living. As they have community living and thus in
occasion of happiness, events and in any festival they celebrate it by singing
folksongs and folk dance.
Their dance
consists of all holding each other’s hand which shows their communal unity.
But in
different occasion, events and festivals their dance form also varies .Like
songs, in Marriage ceremony they sing ‘dong’ songs and same dances ‘Dong enej’
.In baha festival, they dance ‘Baha’. Different festivals have different dance
forms. Santal has many dance form.
There is
mainly 8 dance form, which is traditionally accompanied by two drums: Tamak and
Tumda. The flute (Tiriyo) is considered as the most important Santal
traditional instrument which evokes the soul and feeling of nostalgia of
Santals.
Dong enej :
Taking strides with drum the young men come forward 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. There are certain rounds
of dance, after which women sings songs and the men playing tamak and tumdak
also sings the song with context to song sung by women.
Baha enej :
Baha enej(dance) is performed during the eve of baha
festival .This dance comprises the men and women . The dance starts with the
calling the ‘Nayake’(prist) from his
house to the Jaherthan . And at Jaher
both men and women dances, when all the rituals at Jaher is completed they take
the ‘Nayake’ back to his home with dancing in rows this dance form is called
dahar enej. When they reach to Jaher, they dance baha enej.
Langde enej :
 |
| Lagnde Dance by women. |
This is performed in occasion of joy and any festival.
Langde has many form and variation according to the occasion. Like in Sohray
festival ‘Langde’ is also danced.
Jhika Enej:
Jhika enej is a dance variant, which is used when any dance
form like Langde, dong get to its end. In some places Jhika enej is another
dance form.
Dahar enej:
 |
| Dahar enej (Dance) |
Dahar means ‘way or road’. Apart from ‘Akhra’, ‘Jaher’ and
any particular place, it is danced in road or any path .
Karam Enej:
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| Karam enej |
Karam enej is danced in karam festival, where karam tree is
being worshipped to protect village from
disasters, bad evils and so that peace could rest in village.
Dassai Enej:
It is danced by men only. Dassai is holy dance of Santal
people, In this dance people adorn themselves with sapap(Dress and ornaments) of
Thakur and Thakran. They wear/
There are
many mythology behind dasai and why it is danced, according to one mythology ‘devi’
and ‘durga’ were the bonga of ojha and they used to be worshipped by
oil,vermillion etc this is why in dasai dance people use these . The bonga ‘devi’
and ‘durga’ was taken to somewhere anonymously, and then the master/ojha and
disciple dresses like women and visit each houses to search their bonga .
Another
mythologies include Mahisasur that durga was Mahisasur, some says once upon time there used to be a king whose
daughter was kidnapped by kings enemy . 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 . The
dasai song is a grief song.
Danta Enej :
It is a martial dance which shows their bravery skills and
they carry their bow –arrow and other instruments.
Sadpa Enej :
 |
| Sadpa enej. |
Sadpa Enej is mainly by women, it is very tough dance to do
and needs practice and concentration. It has no any particular time to dance
and mainly dance while welcoming someone or guest .
I am felling proud 2 being forwarding these kind of knowledge 2 our community💻
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