Brita Dance

Understand

Where Brita Dance comes from

Brita (also Vrita, বৃতা) is a traditional Bengali folk dance performed by women in the rural districts of West Bengal. Its origins lie in pre-modern folk religion: it was danced in thanksgiving after recovery from a serious illness, after the safe return of a family member, or to fulfil a vow made to a folk deity. The deities most commonly honoured are Manasa (the snake goddess), Ola Bibi (a forest-spirit), and the Muslim-Hindu syncretic Bonbibi and Gazi Pir figures of the Sundarbans and adjoining districts. The dance is closely associated with the Manasa puja season and with Charak/Gajan rituals.

How it's practiced

Brita is performed almost exclusively by women — typically a small group of married women or girls dancing for an audience of family and neighbours. Dancers move in a circle or line, often with a brass lota (water pot) or a sheaf of harvested rice on the head, singing devotional couplets that name the deity being honoured. The music is provided by women themselves with hand-clapping, ankle bells (ghungroo) and sometimes a dhol or dhak. The dance is performed in the courtyard of a home or at the shrine of the local folk deity, and is followed by the offering of the vowed item (a sari, a brass pot, or the prepared food of the puja).