About Buisu

About Buisu

Buisu, also written Bwisu, is the new year festival of the Tripuri people of Tripura. It comes at the end of Chaitra and the start of Baishakh, in mid April. The word comes from bisi, the Kokborok word for year.

The first day is Hari Buisu, the day for animals. Cows, goats and other animals are bathed, garlanded with flowers and fed well, and homes and courtyards are washed and swept. The main day, Buisu, is the farewell to the old year and the welcome of the new one.

People wear new clothes, often the woven rignai and risa, visit their elders for blessings and go from house to house. Rice cakes wrapped in leaves, called awan, gudok cooked in bamboo and many other dishes are shared with neighbours and guests.

The days are full of songs, the Hojagiri and Garia dances, flowers on every door and prayers for a good year of jhum farming. Neighbouring hill communities keep their own new year festivals in the same days.