Culture of Jharkhand
The people in Jharkhand have the advantage of being culturally vibrant, as reflected in the diversity of languages spoken, festivals celebrated, and variety of folk music, dances, and other traditions of performing arts.
People visit Jharkhand not just to visit other places, but other times. The past is unbelievably attractive, and unarguably authentic. If you seek authenticity, if you seek cultural roots and long traditions that bind past to present – come to Jharkhand. It is your befitting alternative to the corporate present. Walk through some of the places described, and see again the stone and spirit of a land as ancient as time. You will never lose your sense of awe, and the element of surprise will give you company every step of the way. You will then realize that you have come across a priceless heritage, that will never be re-made, that will never be replicated, that will never be altered. Every destination will be like a mythic deliverance for the traveler interested in history and archaeology. Enchantment will go hand in hand with your journey into Jharkhand’s past – a meeting ground, the common place of Indian history, a plural embracing of religious beliefs, a multitude of heroes, gods and goddesses, rubbing shoulders with the living, casting a benevolent eye on Jharkhand’s progress into the future.
Languages
Hindi is the State Language. The people of Jharkhand speak a number of languages belonging to three major language families: the Munda language swhich include Santhali, Mundari, Ho, Kharia, Bhumij and Kurmali; the Dravidian languages which include Oraon (Kurukh), Korwa, and Paharia (Malto) and the Indo-Aryan languages which include Magahi, Nagpuri, Sadri, Khortha, Angika, Oriya Hindi and Bengali.
Cuisine
The Jharkhandi cuisine is traditional and combination of various locality in Jharkhand Region. As India is famous for monsoon and its beautiful quarterly seasons; mainly winter, summer and rain, that brings variety of cuisines with itself. But, there are some major cuisines those are used in all the seasons such as Rice, Roti, Daal, Tarkari and sweets. In general, the food cooked in Jharkhand is considered to be very light on the stomach and easy to digest. This fact can very well be demonstrated by the nature of Jharkhand food habits that have been imbibed by the native folks. Litti and Chokha also form an important portion of Jharkhand food. The mouth-watering non-vegetarian Jharkhand food preparations like spicy chicken are also popular with a considerable section of Jharkhand. The cuisine mainly associated with this state also bears a faint touch of the robust Mughals which is vividly visible in the food of Jharkhand.
Fairs and Festivals
This state astonishingly combines antiquity and plenty. So the festive celebrations in the state of Jharkhand are marked with great ebullience and traditional ardor. Festivals in this state make for unrestrained jollification. Jharkhand participates in almost all the festivals taking place in the country. The festivals celebrated in Jharkhand embody the robust and composite cultural heritage of our nation. Various communities of the Indian subcontinent celebrate as many as forty festivals with complete communal concordance.
Major festivals of Jharkhand are: Karma, Sohrai, Sarhul, Holi, Diwali, Ramnavami, Dussehra, Basant Panchami, Chhath Puja, Jityya Bhaiya Dooj, Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, Muharrum etc.
Art and Crafts
Art historians ascribe the ‘oldest cave paintings’ in India, the “scroll paintings” to a Jharkhand tribe known as the Shabars, who today live on the edge of extinction. It is an established fact that Stone Age tools discovered in Hazaribagh district and axes and spearheads found in the Chaibasa area, are remnants of a civilization dating back a few thousand years. 10,000 to 30,000 years old rock paintings, paintings in huge caves in the Sati hills and other indicators of ancient, even pre-historic, human settlements are found in profusion.
Some of the important crafts in Jharkhand are bamboo crafts, wood crafts, metal works, Paitkar paintings, ornaments, stone carvings and toys.
Source: Wikipedia