FOLKLORE

        

        Folklore has been seen as a rich way of passing down the old narratives and stories through the forms like dance, songs, drama,etc. Every folklore brings out the richness in religion, rituals, customs, region, people,etc. As by the dictionary meaning, 'Folklore is the expressive body of culture shared by a particular group of people. It encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes.' There are eleven kinds of Folklore such as Ballads, Fairy tales, Folk Art, Folk dance, Folk songs, Jokes, Legends, Myths, Riddles, Superstitions and Urban legends. 

    One such initiative has been taken by North East Research and Social Work Networking (NERSWN) in Kokrajhar district. It basically aims to reach out to every tribal village spreading awareness on social issues like education to every child, stopping early child marriage, health and hygiene, sustainable livelihood, organic farming,etc. 

     Basically, it is popularised among the Bodo community and Santhal community as they seem to be the larger part of the population. The interseting thing about the concept of Folklore is that the songs are composed by the children from the village itself. They are first chosen by the field coordinators of the program on the basis of age and then they are called for the training which is initiated by NERSWN and sponsored by the funding agencies. The resource person is been invited to train the children. The training is done in groups and one training session is for 5 days. After the children are trained, they are asked to compose song and perform it with their Tribal dance in the community. 

          The children seem to be really interested in the training sessions. They are not only trained for Folklore but also sessions are been taken for capacity building, adolescent sensitization,  discussions on social issues,etc. This initiative not only makes the child feel strong and confident but builds a concrete in an area of inetrest. 

      On 24th of August, I attended the Folklore program in NERSWN campus in  Kokrajhar. With the collaboration of UNICEF, the program was been organised. Two communities, Bodo and Santhal children had presented the Folklore song and dance which was composed by themselves with the help of their trainer. It started with a session on adolescent sensitization which was an interactive session with some games which helped the children to break the ice and made them comfortable and confident. After the session, the children with their trainer rehearse and planned how to present the  Folklore. The Santhal and Bodo children came in group to perform. It was well organised, they opened their performance with an individual from the group who welcomed the people present in the program and then proceeded by their performance and then one person who explained the meaning of the song. It was not just an performance but also an interactive session with the UNICEF working member who helped the groups to improve. 

     Folklore is not just for the sake of performing in the community but, its an art which an individual develops. And being a tribal, it is an documentation of lived narrative and ancient stories. It is meant to be proof of the survival of Tribal at present.

By- Daisy Kujur