BIRBHUM

“Birbhum” often called “The land of red soil”, is noted for its topography and its cultural heritage which is somewhat different from the other districts in West Bengal. On the western border of the district lies Jharkhand, and the other directions of the border is covered by Burdhaman & Murshidabad of West Bengal. The western part of Birbhum is a bushy region, a part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. This region gradually merges with the fertile alluvial farmlands in the east. In 1820, Birbhum was reconstituted as a separate district and restored to its former area, with the exception of a few estates transferred to the Jungle Mahals. This district saw many cultural and religious movements in history. The Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan, established by Rabindranath Tagore, is one of the places Birbhum is known for. The Santhals are the major tribal group concentrating in Birbhum district. They are locally known as 'Majhi'. Over 76 families living here for near about 200 years in a tribal village called “Ulpahari”. The people over here are mostly depend upon agriculture, handicrafts, ancient clay arts, music & dance. They preserve the ancient cultures and they celebrate many ancient festivals like Baha parab, karam etc. Usually they drink homemade wine -Hariya, which is made by mahua flower, rice, yeast, gur etc. at their festivals or daily life. It is because of this austric tribe that the traces of ancient folklore reflect on their daily livelihood and the biodiversity of this part of Bengal is still preserved. An unique thing that draws our attention is their food habits which mostly involves the use of foraged wild leafy vegetables like , Kolmi Shaak(water Spinach) ,Gime saak(bitter greens), Laal shaak (red spinach ), thankuni pata (Indian Pennywort) . and various edible flowers like bok ful( heron flower) , kumro ful( pumpkin flower ), Shorshe Ful (mustard flower) etc. With this cocktail we tried to bind the flavours of the tribal cuisine using the similar foraged ingredients like “kolmi shaak” as a primary ingredient with a secret sweet vegetable and tribal spices. It is our altogether effort to preserve our ancient tribal culture and put forward before you a picture of Bengal that is often left unnoticed.