Bhubaneswar: The ST and SC Development Department has taken up a virtual tour to Odisha State Tribal Museum every Sunday.
This Sunday (January 30), visitors can visit the Oraon festivals and costumes by opening the Facebook and Twitter Pages @stscdev, @scstrti informed Director, SCSTRTI, Prof. Dr. A.B. Ota.
Oraon is an agrarian tribe of Odisha. They have taken advantage of modern techniques adopting fertilizers, pesticides, and improved seeds.
The Oraon live in mixed ethnicity villages. Their settlements are located in West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Chhattishgarh, and Maharashtra. Their houses are spacious having verandah at the front and back and an outer courtyard.
The Oraon believe in the importance of human life and its interconnectedness with nature.
They celebrate this connection with social systems of interdependence and festivals that mark the change of seasons with ritual dance, music, and feasting.
Important among these is the cattle festival held to honour animals, essential to the livelihood of the community.
The traditional dress of the Oraon is made of coarse white cotton woven with red.
The men wear a loincloth or “Keria”. The women wear the Kanaria, both articles being woven by the local weaver community. Men sometimes also wear a pagdi while the women prefer simple ornaments made of precious metals or alloys.
Continued contact with other communities, in recent years, led to the decline in the use of traditional garments.
These garments are quickly being replaced by modern clothing like pants, shirts, and synthetic sarees.
Shirts made of traditional fabrics are now popular on festive occasions, while fake coin necklaces and anklets are worn for dances.
Tattooing which was once common in Oraon women is also no longer popular.
