About Bohag Bihu
Bohag Bihu, also called Rongali Bihu, is the Assamese new year and the start of the sowing season in Assam. In 2027 it opens on Wednesday, 14 April 2027 with Goru Bihu, the day set aside for cattle, and the new year itself falls the next morning. Most families keep two or three days of it; the older village form runs to seven.
Assam keeps three Bihus in a year, and this is the big one. Bohag Bihu sits at the join between two years. The sun leaves Meen and enters Mesh, the fields have been ploughed, and the rain is about to start. The name Rongali comes from rong, meaning fun, and that is the part outsiders see: the dhol, the dancing, the stages in every town. The part families see is quieter, and it begins with the cows.
Why does Bohag Bihu begin with a day for cattle?
The first day is Goru Bihu, and it belongs to the animals that pull the plough. Families take their cattle to a pond or river, scrub them with a paste of black gram and turmeric called maah halodhi, and brush them with sprigs of two plants, dighloti and makhioti. The brushing is practical as much as ritual: it drives off the flies that bother cattle at the start of the wet season. Old ropes are cut and thrown away, new ones are tied, and the sheds are cleaned out.
Pieces of bottle gourd and brinjal are held out to the cattle while a rhyme is sung at them.
Lao kha, bengena kha, bosore bosore barhi ja. Eat gourd, eat brinjal, and grow bigger year after year.
City families without cattle skip this, but the date still marks the boundary. Goru Bihu is the last day of the old year. The next morning is Bohag 1.
What are the seven days of Bohag Bihu?
The full village form is called Xaat Bihu, seven Bihus. Most households now keep the first two or three days and treat the rest as optional.
- Raati BihuThe night singing
Begins earlier in the month of Sot. Women sing at night in the open, traditionally under an old tree, with men playing the pepa.
- Sot BihuThe warm-up
Songs and dances put on by young people in a field or a naamghar yard, before the main days start.
- Goru BihuThe cattle day
Cattle washed, rubbed with maah halodhi, brushed with dighloti and makhioti, fed gourd and brinjal. The last day of the old year.
- Manuh BihuThe new year
Bohag 1. A bath with maah halodhi, new clothes, and a gamosa placed in the hands of parents and elders.
- Kutum BihuThe visiting day
Relatives and neighbours are called over. Nobody leaves without eating something.
- Mela BihuThe fair day
Public stages, competitions and cattle shows in towns and villages.
- Sera BihuThe closing day
Leftover pithas are shared out and the festival is wound up for the year.
The names are not fixed. Other lists in circulation count Gosai Bihu for the household gods, Tator Bihu for the loom, Nangal Bihu for the plough and Chenehi or Jiyari Bihu for daughters and sweethearts. Which seven you get depends on the district and on who is telling you, and Goru Bihu and Manuh Bihu are the only two that every list agrees on.
Assam's offices usually shut for two or three days around 14 April. The exact days are set by the state government each year rather than by the central list, so check the Assam holiday order before booking travel.
What do Assamese families eat and wear at Bohag Bihu?
The Bihu food is jolpan, a spread of things that need no cooking on the day: chira and komal saul (flattened and soft rice), doi (curd), gur, cream, and the pithas and larus made through the week. Pithas are rice-flour cakes. Til pitha has a sesame and jaggery filling and is rolled thin, ghila pitha is deep-fried, and sunga pitha is steamed inside a green bamboo tube. Larus are small round sweets of coconut or sesame held together with jaggery. A household makes these in batches and presses them on every visitor.
Clothes matter more than usual. Women wear a mekhela sador, often in the pat or muga silk woven at Sualkuchi. Men wear a dhoti with a gamosa, or a kurta with one over the shoulder.
The gamosa is the thing to understand if you are wishing an Assamese friend. It is a white cotton cloth with red borders and woven patterns at one end, and at Bihu it is given to elders, when it is called a bihuwan. Handing one over with both hands is how respect is shown on Manuh Bihu. The Assam gamosa got a Geographical Indication tag on 13 December 2022. If you are sending a gift rather than a card, a gamosa is the safest and most welcome choice.
What is Bihu dance and husori?
Bihu dance is fast, done in lines by young men and women, with quick hip and arm movements and a step that stays close to the ground. The music comes from the dhol (a two-sided drum), the pepa (a pipe made from a buffalo horn), the gogona (a bamboo jaw harp), the toka, the baanhi flute and the taal. Towns put up temporary stages called bihutoli and run competitions for days.
Husori is the other half, and it happens at the doorstep. A group of singers walks from house to house, asks permission at the gate, stands in the courtyard, sings a blessing for the household, and is given money, a gamosa or food. Turning a husori group away is poor form. A house that has had a death that year does not host one, and the group simply moves on.
On 13 April 2023, 11,304 dancers and drummers performed together at Sarusajai Stadium in Guwahati and took two Guinness World Records, one for the largest Bihu dance at a single venue and one for the most people playing Assamese folk instruments at once.
Who else has a new year the same week?
Bohag Bihu is one of several new years inside Assam alone, and several more across India, all set by the same solar moment.
| Festival | Community and place | What makes it different |
|---|---|---|
| Bohag Bihu | Assamese speakers across Assam | Seven days, opening with cattle; Bihu dance and husori |
| Bwisagu | Bodo community, mostly western Assam | Seven days; cows bathed and garlanded on day one, girls dance with the gongona jaw harp and jotha cymbals |
| Bisu | Deori community, upper Assam | Seven days of rituals, feasting and its own husori singing |
| Pohela Boishakh | Bengalis in West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak valley | Shops open new account books; no cattle ritual |
| Puthandu | Tamil Nadu and Puducherry | A tray of good things seen first thing in the morning; mango pachadi |
| Vaisakhi | Punjab, and Sikhs everywhere | Harvest, plus the founding of the Khalsa in 1699 |
| Vishu | Kerala | The Vishukkani, and cash gifts from elders |
Assam's other two Bihus sit far away in the calendar. Magh Bihu in mid-January is the harvest feast with the meji bonfire. Kati Bihu in October falls in the lean month, with lamps lit at the tulsi plant and in the paddy fields and no feasting at all. Assam's statehood is marked separately on Assam Day.
What to write
Bohag Bihur xubhechha, Ma and Deuta. Keep some til pitha aside for me. I will call in the morning before the dhol starts.
Bohag Bihur xubhechha, Aita. I am sending a gamosa by post since I cannot put it in your hands this year. Bless me from there.
Bohag Bihur xubhechha. No bihutoli near you, I know. Play the old Bihu songs loudly, make one laru, and call it done.
Happy Bohag Bihu to you and your family. Hope you get a proper jolpan breakfast and a long weekend out of it.
Rongali Bihur xubhechha. It is our new year, so this is the week we eat too much and dance badly. Wishing you a good year.
Bohag Bihur xubhechha to both of you. First Bihu in your own home. May the year be as full as your kitchen is this week.
Bohag Bihur xubhechha. New year, new work. Start it the Assamese way: clean the place, eat something sweet, and get going.
Do
- Say "Bohag Bihur xubhechha" or "Rongali Bihur xubhechha". Both are normal, and Assamese friends will notice you used the real words.
- Wish on Goru Bihu morning or on Manuh Bihu. Either works, and Manuh Bihu is the new year proper.
- If you are handed a gamosa, take it with both hands. If you are giving one to an elder, do the same.
Avoid
- Don't call it only a dance festival. The first day is about cattle and the second is about touching the feet of elders.
- Don't send a cheerful greeting to a family that has had a death in the past year. Many households keep no Bihu at all that year.
- Don't mix it up with Magh Bihu in January or Kati Bihu in October. They are three different festivals with three different moods.
- Xubhechha
- Greetings, in Assamese
- Jolpan
- The Bihu breakfast spread of flattened rice, curd, jaggery, pithas and larus
- Pitha
- A rice-flour cake, fried, steamed or roasted, usually with a sesame or coconut filling
- Gamosa
- The white cotton cloth with red borders given to elders at Bihu, when it is called a bihuwan
- Maah halodhi
- The paste of black gram and turmeric rubbed on cattle, and then on people
- Husori
- The group of singers who go house to house singing a blessing
- Bihutoli
- The temporary stage a town puts up for Bihu performances
- Mekhela sador
- The two-piece Assamese dress worn by women
How to wish someone on Bohag Bihu
Assamese wishes are short and warm. "Bohag Bihur xubhechha" or "Rongali Bihur xubhechha" is what people write. Point at what the person is actually doing: the pithas being fried, the dhol at the village stage, the gamosa they are folding for an elder, the flight to Guwahati they could not get. For a young couple or someone starting a job, this is the new year, so a line about a fresh start lands better than one about luck.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + regional language.
When is Bohag Bihu in 2026 and 2027?
Bohag Bihu is on 14 Apr every year. Only the weekday changes.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is Bohag Bihu in 2027?
Bohag Bihu 2027 falls on Wednesday, 14 April 2027.
What is the difference between Bohag Bihu, Magh Bihu and Kati Bihu?
Assam keeps three Bihus. Bohag or Rongali Bihu in mid-April is the new year and the sowing festival, with dancing, husori and a day for cattle. Magh or Bhogali Bihu in mid-January is the harvest feast, built around a community dinner and a bonfire called the meji. Kati or Kongali Bihu in October falls in the lean season when the granary is empty, so it is quiet: lamps are lit at the tulsi plant and in the paddy fields, and there is no feast.
How do you wish someone on Bohag Bihu in Assamese?
Say "Bohag Bihur xubhechha" or "Rongali Bihur xubhechha", which both mean Bohag Bihu greetings. A fuller line used in cards is "Notun bosoror xubhechha", new year greetings. Plain "Happy Bihu" is completely normal in offices and group chats.
Why is a gamosa given at Bohag Bihu?
The gamosa is a white cotton cloth with red borders that stands for respect in Assamese life, and at Bihu it is placed in the hands of parents, elders and teachers, where it is called a bihuwan. The gesture matters more than the cloth, which is inexpensive. The Assam gamosa received a Geographical Indication tag in December 2022.
What is Goru Bihu and why is it the first day?
Goru Bihu is the day before the Assamese new year, kept for cattle. Cows and bullocks are washed in a pond or river, rubbed with a black gram and turmeric paste, brushed with dighloti and makhioti sprigs to keep flies off, and given pieces of gourd and brinjal. Old ropes are thrown out and new ones tied. It comes first because in a farming calendar the animals that pull the plough are thanked before the year is opened.
Is Bohag Bihu a religious festival?
Bohag Bihu is a seasonal and farming festival rather than a temple one. It has no single god or puja at its centre, and Assamese people of different faiths, along with Bodo, Deori, Mising and tea-garden communities, keep their own forms of the same mid-April new year. Many families do pray at a naamghar or a household altar on the new year morning, so it sits on both sides of that line.
What food is made for Bohag Bihu?
The Bihu spread is called jolpan: flattened rice and soft rice eaten with curd, cream and jaggery, alongside pithas and larus. Pithas are rice-flour cakes such as til pitha with a sesame and jaggery filling, fried ghila pitha, and sunga pitha steamed in a bamboo tube. Larus are small coconut or sesame sweets. Families make them in large batches so that every visitor through the week can be fed.
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