Garia, the biggest festival of Tripura people, was celebrated with full devotion and fervour.
From the afternoon hundreds of tribal people make long queue with eggs, a symbol of life, and sacrifice fowls to the symbol of Garia deity made out of bamboo and pray for a better year with less diseases and good yield.
The opening day of the ten days festival is an official holiday in Tripura.
The major rituals include the sacrifice of fowls and especially eggs, the symbol of fertility, to please the deities.
Chantai, the tribal priest, generally interpret the coming year on the basis of the sacrifice. Now-a-days, local Hindu Brahmin priests also perform the rituals together.
"This is Ganesha puja but in our language we call it Garia puja. The first harvest of the year is sacrificed to Ganesha, and it use to be performed by royal priest from immemorial and at present we are continuing their heritage and culture. Now non-tribals also participate in the celebration but originally it is a festival of the tribal Debbarma community. This has turned in to a platform for unity of tribal and non-tribal people and together they pay tribute to the God. Here eggs of duck and hen are sacrificed, others also sacrifice fowl," said Iyesha Debbarma, tribal devotee, who sacrificed fowl and eggs on the occasion.
Though a tribal festival, hundreds of non-tribal also participates in the celebration.
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Alpana Roy, a non-tribal devotee, who participated in the festival along with his daughter said, "Eggs and fowl are essential for performing this puja and the priest (Chanti) performs the rituals once in the morning and later in the afternoon. Both Bengali non-tribal and the tribal community people jointly celebrate this festival and it is a big event."
In a part of north-eastern India where tribal groups fight Hindu settlers, a feast is raising hopes for peace and harmony. The festival is a unique example of India as a melting pot of cultures, races and language where humanity in all its diversities has merged and united.
Small fairs are also organized on the occasion where people go for small marketing.