Intersection of Food, Celebration and Heritage: Synthesising the Tribal Festivals Revolving around Foodways in Central India

Abstract

The region of central India, which mainly comprises the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, is home to a diverse array of tribal communities who have deeply connected to their land through various cultural practices. Almost every activity they performed revolved around their connection to nature, showcasing their reverence for Mother Earth and other natural elements with which their life is highly knitted down. Among these activities, food-centered festivals are especially important since they are events that commemorate ancestors’ customs, celebrate agricultural cycles, and reinforce the individual’s devotion to nature. For the tribals living in central India, like Gond, Baiga and Bhil, these festivals are not only merely events of feasting but are integral to their social cohesion and identity. This study aims to document these events and highlight the symbolic connotations attached to organising such festivals. We employ a mixed approach for this article, and data are collected through ethnographic fieldwork in some regions of central India and analysing the existing literature. The festivities frequently fall on important agricultural instances, including sowing, reaping, and the post-harvest phase; commemorating these significant occasions shows how deeply the communities are connected to the land and what it produces. The paper sheds light on these embedded aspects of the festivals by looking at their tangible features with the concept of environmentalism and indigenous identity. These celebrations, with their intricate rituals, songs, dances, and culinary traditions, embody a holistic worldview in which food is embraced as a sign of faith-based magnitude for nature and cultural history in addition to being a source of nutrition.