Jhummar (Haryana)

Understand

Where Jhummar (Haryana) comes from

Jhummar is the men's folk-dance of western Haryana (the Hisar, Sirsa, Fatehabad and adjacent districts) — performed at the harvest festival and at the rural men's social gatherings. The form is a regional cousin of the more widely known Punjabi Jhummar and shares the basic circle-dance vocabulary of the central-Indian Jhumar tradition. The Haryana form is particularly associated with the Hindu-Balak (Bishnoi, Bagria) and Jaat communities of the arid regions of western Haryana. The dance has been preserved at cultural programmes of the state and at the village melas of the region.

How it's practiced

Jhummar in Haryana is performed by a troupe of men in a circle (or in a moving procession through the village) clapping in coordinated patterns while singing the regional ballads. The dance is energetic and includes small jumps and shoulder movements at particular points. Music is the dholak and the small tambourine of the local musical ensemble. Costume is the everyday regional dress — the dhoti, the kurta and the colourful regional turban (the safa). Performances are at the evening of the mela and the harvest festival.