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.
Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion, comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled with the contents of institutionalised religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Chinese syncretic religions”. This includes the veneration of shen (spirits) and ancestors, exorcism of demonic forces, and a belief in the rational order of nature, balance in the universe and reality that can be influenced by human beings and their rulers, as well as spirits and deities. Worship is devoted to deities and immortals, who can be deities of places or natural phenomena, of human behaviour, or founders of family lineages. Stories of these gods are collected into the body of Chinese mythology. By the Song dynasty (960–1279), these practices had been blended with Buddhist, Confucianist doctrines and Taoist teachings to form the popular religious system which has lasted in many ways until the present day. The present day government of mainland China, like the imperial dynasties, tolerates popular religious organizations if they bolster social stability but suppresses or persecutes those that they fear would undermine it.
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.
Jìngxiāng, shàngxiāng, bàishén, is a ritual of offering incense accompanied by tea and or fruits in Chinese traditional religion. In ancestral religious worship it's jìngzǔ or bàizǔ 拜祖. It is observed by a devotee holding joss incense with both hands in front of an altar during the worship. For greater reverence or devotion, the devotee will kneel and bow before the altar during and after placing the incense inside the urn at the altar.
The Tai folk religion, Satsana Phi or Ban Phi is the ancient native ethnic religion of Tai people still practiced by various Tai groups. Tai folk religion was dominant among Tai people in Asia until the arrival of Buddhism and Hinduism. It's primarily based on worshipping deities called Phi, Khwan and Ancestors.
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.
Jonbeel Mela is a three-day annual indigenous Tiwa Community fair held the weekend of Magh Bihu at a historic place known as Dayang Belguri at Joonbeel. It is 3 km from Jagiroad in Morigaon district of Assam and 65 km from Guwahati. The National Highway connecting the mela is NH 37. The Joonbeel is so called because a large natural water body is shaped like a crescent moon.
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.
Moran (Morān) is an extinct Boro-Garo language which was spoken in Assam in Northeast India and related to Dimasa language. The census returned 78 speakers in 1901, 24 in 1911 and none in 1931, and the only source of this language exists in a 1904 article by P R Gurdon. The speakers of this language have shifted to the Assamese language. The name "Moran" reportedly means 'forest dweller'.
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, of which some have also varyingly syncretized traditional Chinese religious practices with. 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 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.
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 Boinga (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.
