Phag (Mithila)

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Where Phag (Mithila) comes from

Phag (also Phagwa or Fag) is the folk-dance of the Mithila region of Bihar (and adjoining parts of eastern UP and Nepal) performed at the spring Holi festival. The dance dates to the medieval period and is associated with the Krishna-Radha tradition of the Braj-Mithila cultural belt. The Phag is the sung and danced celebration of the burning of the Holika (Holika Dahan) and the playing of colours (Rangpanchami) that marks the end of winter and the beginning of the new agricultural year. Phag songs are part of the central Maithili literary heritage of north Bihar. The dance-drama cycle is structured in the Phag-Bichhua-Ghatwar-Bhilwa-Dalkariya order (see the Jat-Jatra entry) and the Phag is the opening sequence that sets the dance repertoire of the night.

How it's practiced

Phag is performed by groups of men (and increasingly women and children) in a circle in the village square or at the Holi festival, dancing to the beat of the dhol and the manjira. The dance features vigorous leg kicks, hands-clapping overhead and the occasional use of the gulal (the coloured powder that gives Holi its name). The accompanying songs are the Phag songs of the Maithili tradition — typically verses of Radha-Krishna or other Vaishnava characters in a Mithili dialect. Costume is the simple village dress — the white dhoti-kurta for men, the colourful sari for women. Performances are held at the village during the afternoon and evening of Holi, with the dance running through the day of colour-play and into the evening of song.