Jhijhiya (Jhijiya)

Understand

Where Jhijhiya (Jhijiya) comes from

Jhijhiya (also spelled Jhijiya) is a women's folk-dance of the Mithila region of north Bihar, performed during the Dussehra festival (the Vijayadashami — the tenth-day celebration of the autumnal Navaratri). The dance is closely associated with the women's celebration of the autumn festival and with the symbolic victory of good over evil (the dussehra theme). Jhijhiya is performed in the villages of Darbhanga, Madhubani and Sitamarhi, and is one of the most distinctive women's festival dances of the Mithila region. The form is a women's-practice dance — women teach it to other women and the performance space is the village courtyard, the kattha (veranda) or the river bank.

How it's practiced

Jhijhiya is performed by groups of women in a circle, each holding two small sticks (typically decorated with coloured paper or flowers) and striking them in coordinated patterns with their neighbours' sticks as the dance progresses. The accompanying singers recite the Jhijhiya verses (the autumnal victory songs) as the dance is performed. The rhythm builds through the dance, with the tempo accelerating through the afternoon. The dance is performed on the tenth day — Vijayadashami itself — at the village courtyard, with the women forming circles around the central lamp (the light symbolising the triumph of the divine). Costume is the colourful Mithila festive dress — the heavy red and yellow sari with the traditional Madhubani-painted dupatta, the heavy silver jewellery and the women in particular wear the sindoor that marks the married status.