Food And Dress
Food And Dress
The food of Orissa is very delicious. Cooked rice with dal and curry as side dishes is the common meal for all people. There is also a widely prevalent practice of taking cooked rice soaker in water overnight called Pakhal as an alternative to a warm rice meal. Some people like to take roti or chapati for dinner. The people use both sun-dried and par-boiled rice, the former especially on festive occasions. Kanika or Khechudi and Payas are prepared from sun-dried rice. Cake is prepared from ricepowder and gram dal. The various types of cakes are chakuli, chitau, manda, arisa, kakara and podapitha. Besides,the people are very fond of Rasgulla, Rasmalai, Chhenapoda, Peda, Rasabali, Kora, Muana, etc. Majority of the people in Orissa are non-vegetarian.
The widows of the upper caste Hindu, and the devotees are by choice vegetarian. Between meat and fish, the latter is the common ingredient of the everyday non-vegetarian meal. Delicious curries are prepared with different vegetables or fish, meat and eggs by adding different masalas. In addition to rice and dal the items are Bhaji (fry), Ghanta (mixed vegetable curry), besara or mahura (spiced curry), ambila, sakara, etc. The traditional dress Dhoti and Kurta are widely used by the rural people.
People of urban areas like to use pant and shirt. Most of the women wear saree. The college going girls like to wear shalwar and kameej. Boys wear shorts and shirts and girls, vest and frocks. The informal dress of the people is Lungi and Gamuchha.
population is concentrated in three districts of Koraput(undivided), Sundergarh and Mayurbhanj.
Tribal economy is subsistence oriented. It is based on food gathering, hunting and fishing and thus revolves around forests. Even the large tribes like the Santal, Munda, Oram and Gond. who are settled agriculturists, often supplement their economy with hunting and gathering. While farming they make use of a very simple technology and a simple division 01 labour, often limited to the immediate family. They lose out because their holdings are small and unproductive, lacking in irrigation facilities since the terrain is hilly and undulating. They also lack funds to buy or adopt improved techniques and back upon traditional skills and outdated implements.
Many tribes,for instance, the Juanga, Bhuiyan. Saora, Dharua and Bonda, practice what is called shifting cultivation or Podu Chasa, also known as slash and bum. They select a plot of land, generally on a mountain slope, slash down all the trees and bushes and burn them to ashes. Spreading the ashes evenly over the land, they wait for the rains before planting their crops. Due to cultivation for two or three seasons on one plot of land the soil gets depleted, so the tribals move on. It is a way of life for them.
