The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. Some groups venerate their direct, familial ancestors. Certain religious groups, in particular the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Catholic Church and Anglican Church venerate saints as intercessors with God; the latter also believes in prayer for departed souls in Purgatory. Other religious groups, however, consider veneration of the dead to be idolatry and a sin.
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of one or more animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Christianity in Late Antiquity, and continue in some cultures or religions today. Human sacrifice, where it existed, was always much rarer.
Bihu is of three types and it is an important cultural festival unique to the Indian state of Assam – 'Rongali' or 'Bohag Bihu' observed in April, 'Kongali' or 'Kati Bihu' observed in October or November, and 'Bhogali' or 'Magh Bihu' observed in January. The festivals present an admixture of Tibeto-Barman, Austroasiatic and Indo-Aryan traditions entwined so intricately that it is impossible to separate them—festivals which are uniquely Assamese to which all communities of Assam had contributed elements. The Rongali Bihu is the most important of the three, celebrating spring festival. The Bhogali Bihu or the Magh Bihu is a harvest festival, with community feasts. The Kongali Bihu or the Kati Bihu is the sombre, thrifty one reflecting a season of short supplies and is an animistic festival.
Boro, also called Bodo, is an ethnolinguistic group native to the state of Assam in India. They are a part of the greater Bodo-Kachari family of ethnolinguistic groups and are spread across northeastern India. They are concentrated mainly in the Bodoland Territorial Region of Assam, though Boros inhabit all other districts of Assam and Meghalaya.
The Sora are a Munda ethnic group from eastern India. They live in southern Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Kalicharan Brahma, originally Kalicharan Mech, was a 20th-century social and religious reformer of Bodo society. He attained diksha in a new religion called Brahmo Dharma / Brahmoism Adi Brahmo Samaj in Calcutta around 1906, and is reverentially called Gurudev or Guru Brahma by the Bodo people of lower plains of Assam along the Brahmaputra valley. Other Assamese Brahmos of the time include Gunabhiram Barua and Swarnalata Devi of the same faction, all of whom agitated against Colonialist Imperialism of any kind. The followers of this group are locally known as Brahmas in tribute to their religion and the holy river of which they are sons. He was the founder of Boro Chhatra Sanmilanni.
The Deori people are one of the major Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group of the Northeast Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. They refer to themselves as "Jimochayan" which means children's of Sun in their native language. They historically lived in the area of Sadiya, Joidaam, Patkai foothills and in the upper plains or also called as the hinterland of the Brahmaputra Valley. Scanty information was found in few books and official records. The Deori language belongs to the Boro-Garo branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family. The community has maintained their racial traits, language, religion, folktales and traditional beliefs through the centuries. They were divided into Dibang-Diyongial(Dibongia), Midoyan/Tengapania, Luitugan/Borgoya,Patorgoya. The native language is retained only by the Dibongia group. They call themselves Jimochanaya.
Udalguri district (Pron:ˌʊdʌlˈgʊəri), also known as Odalguri, is a district in the Bodoland Territorial Region of the state of Assam in Northeastern India. Udalguri town is the headquarters of the district.
Me-Dam-Me-Phi is the most important veneration of the dead communal festival in the Ahom religion celebrated by the Ahom people on 31 January every year in memory of the departed. It is the manifestation of the concept of ancestor worship that the Ahoms share with other peoples originating from the Tai stock. It is a festival to show respect to the departed ancestors and remember their contribution to society.
Euphorbia miliivar.splendens is a variety of the species Euphorbia milii. Like the other varieties of E. miliiE. m. var. splendens produces a milky latex that is an irritant poison. Under the name sijou the plant, known formerly as Euphorbia splendens, is considered to be sacred in the Bathouist religion of the Bodo people of Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland and Nepal, in which it symbolizes the supreme deity, Bathoubwrai. This cultivation of the sijou tree for ritual purposes was particularly strong among the Bodo people of the Goalpara region. The plant does not often set seed, but is easy to propagate vegetatively; branches broken from an established plant root readily as cuttings. Families that follow Bathouism plant a sijou shrub at the northeast corner of their courtyard in an altar referred to as the sijousali. Bodo communities that follow Bathouism generally plant a sijou shrub or small tree in a piece of communally-owned land, which they fence with eighteen pairs of bamboo strips with five fastenings. Each pair symbolizes a divine couple consisting of a minor God and Goddess. From bottom to top, the five fastenings signify birth, pain, death, marriage and peace/pleasure. The milestones on the path of life represented by the bottom three fastenings are those that one cannot escape; whereas those symbolized by the top two are not necessarily attained by all.
Worship in Hinduism is an act of religious devotion usually directed to one or more Hindu deities, invoking a sense of Bhakti or devotional love. This term is probably a central one in Hinduism, but a direct translation from the Sanskrit to English is difficult. Worship in Hinduism takes many forms, and its expression vary depending on geographical, linguistic, and cultural factors. Hindu worship is not limited to a particular place and Hindus perform worship in temples and within the home. It often incorporates personal reflection, music, dance, poetry, rituals, and ceremonies. Worship in Hinduism serves various purposes, including seeking blessings, guidance, or specific outcomes, as well as fostering a sense of inner peace and spiritual growth. It can also be an expression of devotion (bhakti) to the deity. The aim is to lead a pure life in order to progress spiritually and eventually attain liberation (moksha) from the cycle of rebirth.
Hindu denominations, sampradayas, traditions, movements, and sects are traditions and sub-traditions within Hinduism centered on one or more gods or goddesses, such as Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti and so on. The term sampradaya is used for branches with a particular founder-guru with a particular philosophy.
Kamrupi Brahmins, also known as Kamarupi Brahmana and Kamrupi Bamon; are those brahmins who claimed their descent from the Kanauji Brahmins and Maithili Brahmins who settled in Kamarupa. They brought with them different Hindu epics and became the torch-bearers of Indo-Aryan culture in the region.
Chinese folk religion plays a dynamic role in the lives of the overseas Chinese who have settled in the countries of this geographic region, particularly Burmese Chinese, Singaporean Chinese, Malaysian Chinese, Thai Chinese and Hoa. The Indonesian Chinese, by contrast, were forced to adopt en masse either Buddhism or Christianity in the 1950s and 1960s, abandoning traditional worship, due to Indonesia's religious policies which at the time forbade Chinese traditional religion or did not recognize it as a "religion," thus making it vulnerable to discrimination. Some Chinese Filipinos also still practice some Chinese traditional religions, besides Christianity of either Roman Catholicism or Protestantism, with which some have also varyingly syncretized traditional Chinese religious practices. Chinese folk religion, the ethnic religion of Han Chinese, "Shenism" was especially coined referring to its Southeast Asian expression; another Southeast Asian name for the religion is the Sanskrit expression Satya Dharma.
The Chutia people are an ethnic group that are native to Assam and historically associated with the Chutia kingdom. However, after the kingdom was absorbed into the Ahom kingdom in 1523–24, the Chutia population was widely displaced and dispersed in other parts of Upper Assam as well as Central Assam. They constitute one of the core groups that form the Assamese people.
The Ahom religion is the ethnic religion of the Ahom people. The Ahom people came into Assam in 1228, led by a Tai prince Sukaphaa, and admixed with the local people. The people who came into Assam included two clans of priests, joined later by a third, who brought with them their own religion, rituals, practices and scriptures. The religion is based on ritual-oriented ancestor worship that required animal sacrifice (Ban-Phi), though there was at least one Buddhism influenced ritual in which sacrifice was forbidden (Phuralung). Ancestor worship and the animistic concept of khwan are two elements it shares with other Tai folk religions. There is no idolatry except for the titular god of the Ahom king and though there is a concept of heaven or a heavenly kingdom, there is no concept of hell. It was the state religion of the Ahom kingdom in the initial period.
Swargiary is a surname found among the Boro people of north-eastern India.The Swargiary clan seems to have been derived from the word ‘swrgw’ means heaven. It is alike to the heavenly-folk. The people of this group were originally a priestly clan but not considered like that of Brahmins of Hindu religion as the latter consists of a caste occupying high position in the society. Earlier, they became either Douri (priest) or Oja for performing the religious rites and rituals in their society. But in course of time, they were completely merged with the mass of cultivators, and took up cultivation and other professions also. Swargiary comes from the word Swarg-ároi, meaning Heaven-folk. The members of the clan used to be highest of all.
The Moran are an ethnic group found in the northeast Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. They are of Tibeto-Burman origin and belong to the Kachari family. They speak Assamese language, though they used to speak Moran language which was alive until the early 20th century and was closely related to the Dimasa language. They once shared the same allied customs with other Kachari groups, but after their conversion to Vaishnavism, the customs began to diminish, but still, those customs can be seen intermixed with Vaishnavism.
Hinduism is the dominant religion practised in the state of Assam. According to some scholars, it is home to some of the most complex and poorly understood traditions in Hinduism. People follow traditions belonging to Shaivism, Shaktism, Tantra, and an indigenous form of Vaishnavism called Ekasarana Dharma; taken together the practitioners constitute around 61% of the state population as per the 2011 Census. Hindus form a majority in 17 out of the 29 districts of Assam. By region, there is a significant diversity among the ethnic groups that profess the Hindu faith, traditions, and customs. As per as 2011 Census, In Brahmaputra valley of Assam, Hindus constitute 62% of the population, the majority being ethnic Assamese. In the autonomous Bodoland region of Assam, Hindus constitute 71.3% of the region's population, most being of the Bodo tribe. In the Barak valley region of southern Assam, Hindus constitute 50% of the region's population, most being ethnic Bengalis. The Hill Tribes of Assam, particularly the Karbi people of Karbi Anglong and Dimasa people of Dima Hasao, are mainly Animism.
Kherai is the greatest religious festival of Boros. Boros are agriculturalists and their relation with agriculture resonates in their festivals. Kherai festival is performed for the welfare of public and private lives as well as for good harvest. It is intended to appease Bathou or Sibrai along with Mainao or Lakhsmi and host of other deities. It is of four kinds, namely Darshan kherai celebrated in first week of Kartik, Umrao kherai celebrated during Ashara at the end of "Amthisua", Phalo kherai celebrated at full moon day of Magh and Nowaoni Kherai celebrated whenever the family needs to. Darshan kherai is connected to Sali crops and it is meant for Mainao or Lakshmi. Umrao kherai is performed for the well-being of villagers as well as the Ashu crops. Nowaoni kherai is performed to get out of trouble by the family. There are similarities between Ker puja of Tripuris and Kherai puja of Boros.
