The famous 4-day Meghalaya Annual Cultural Festival, “Behdienkhlam”, held every year at the small peripheral town of Jowai, Meghalaya.
Behdienkhlam Festival is the most celebrated religious festival among the Pnars Tribals also known as Jaintia Tribes. It is popular at Jowai the District headquarters of Jaintia Hills District, Meghalaya.
“Khlam” means plague or pestilence and “beh dien” means to drive away with sticks.
The festival is also known as the festival for chasing away the Demon of Cholera.
It is celebrated mid-July every year after the sowing is over.
The festival reaches its conclusion with the Dad-lawakor ceremony in which groups of men jostle for the possession of a wooden ball, a game which is remotely similar to football.
The festival ends with a final salutation to the divine powers when the women of the tribe offer sacrificial food to their almighty.
