Sarhul 2027

About Sarhul

Sarhul is the spring festival of the sal flower and the new year for the Adivasi and Sadan communities of Jharkhand, and in 2027 the state marks it on Friday, 9 April 2027. The village priest, the Pahan, worships at the sarna, the sacred grove, reads water pots for the coming rains and gives sal flowers to every home. It falls on the third day of the bright half of Chaitra, though villages may keep their own Sarhul on other days that month.

Sarhul comes when the sal trees of the Chotanagpur plateau are in flower, in March or April. For the communities who keep it, it is the start of the year, and nobody ploughs while the rites are on.

The name is usually explained from Nagpuri, the common language of the region: sar for the sal tree and hul for a grove. Each community also has its own name for the festival.

Jharkhand keeps Sarhul as a state holiday on Chaitra Shukla Tritiya, the third day of the bright half of Chaitra. In 2025 that was 1 April and the state gave a two-day holiday. In 2023 it was 24 March. Villages do not all keep it on the same day. Accounts place village Sarhul anywhere from the Tritiya to Chaitra Purnima, as each village's Pahan sets the day. The state date is the one the city marks together.

The sarna and the Pahan

Many people who keep Sarhul describe their faith as Sarna, after the sarna, the grove of sal trees on the edge of the village where the village deities live. It is a faith of the land, the ancestors and the village, with its own priests and its own rites. It should be described in its own terms, not as a branch of another religion.

The Pahan, the village priest, called Laya or Deuri in some areas, leads the festival. He keeps a fast before the puja, as do the women of many households.

Three days at the sarna

1. Day 1
   Fast, crabs and water

   Women and the Pahan fast. In the morning the Pahan or the eldest of the household goes to a pond to catch crabs, and some go after fish too. Young people gather sal flowers from the forest. In the evening the Pahan fills pots with water from a sacred spring and leaves them at the sarna overnight.

2. Day 2
   The forecast and the puja

   At dawn the Pahan reads the pots and announces the rains. He offers sal flowers, fruit, vermilion and rice beer, and roosters of different colours for the Sun, the village deities and the ancestors. Families offer food to their ancestors at home before they eat. The evening is for dancing and processions.

3. Day 3
   Phool khonsi

   The Pahan goes from house to house, tucks sal flowers into each doorway and puts colour on people's faces. Women wash his feet and welcome him. The festival ends with a prayer for peace.

The food is of the season. Women fry puan, a sweet offered as prasad, and only those who are fasting or the Pahan may make it. Men cook the crab and chicken prasad. Village Square's account lists the season's greens and vegetables that go with it: lal saag, koinar saag, putkal saag, drumstick and jackfruit. Sal leaves are the plates. Handia, the rice beer, is part of the offering and the feast.

How the water pots are read

The forecast is the moment many people wait for. The water level in the morning gives the year's rain: if it has held, good rain; if it has dropped, a dry year. Where the pot is damper or has spilled shows the direction the heavier rain will come from. In 2023 Jaglal Pahan, the chief Pahan at Hatma Sarna Sthal in Ranchi's Morabadi, found the pot tilted to the south and forecast good rain with more in the south. In 2025 he forecast rain partly below normal.

Tradition holds that Sarhul marks the marriage of the Sun and the Earth, and that the sal in flower is the Earth ready for the year. The crab caught on the first day is a female, because on this day nature is worshipped as a young girl.

Sarna

The sacred grove of sal trees where the village deities are worshipped; also the name many use for the faith

Pahan

The village priest who leads the Sarhul rites; Laya or Deuri in some areas

Sarai, sakhua

Local names for the sal tree, Shorea robusta, and its flower

Phool khonsi

The last day, when the Pahan puts sal flowers in every doorway

Puan

A sweet fried for the offering by those who are fasting

Handia

Rice beer, offered in the puja and shared at the feast

Johar

The respectful greeting used across Jharkhand's communities

The Ranchi procession

Processions are newer than the festival. Wikipedia's account dates them in Ranchi and Gumla to 1961; before that, people danced near the sarna. Today groups from Hatma, Sirmatoli, Doranda and other neighbourhoods march with dhol, nagara and mandar drums, dressed in red and white. The processions meet at Albert Ekka Chowk and end at the Siram Toli Sarna Sthal. Tableaux carry messages about forests and the environment.

The state joins in. In 2023 Chief Minister Hemant Soren planted a sakhua sapling at the Karmatoli tribal hostel, and the Governor performed the puja at Ranchi University. In 2025 the Chief Minister worshipped at Siram Toli and danced to the mandar.

Wishing someone well on Sarhul

Sarhul opens the farming year; Karma Puja, with its Karam branch and grain sprouts, comes in Bhado when the paddy is growing. Jharkhand marks its statehood on Jharkhand Foundation Day.

How to wish someone on Sarhul

A good Sarhul wish speaks of what the day honours in the community's own terms, the sal in flower, the earth, the rains to come, the ancestors and the new year. Use the community's words, Sarhul, Sarna, Pahan, Johar, and don't describe it as part of another religion. Keep it warm and grounded, never exotic. A Nagpuri or Hindi line, or the local name such as Khaddi or Baa Parab, means a lot to friends from Jharkhand.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Hindi + Nagpuri, Kurukh, Mundari.

Good to know: Sarna (Adivasi) festival: describe it in the community's terms (sarna, Pahan, Johar); never call it Hindu. Handia and fowl offerings are part of the worship. Avoid the Sarna code and Siram Toli flyover disputes.

When is Sarhul in each year?

Sarhul is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 19 days later than in 2026.

Frequently asked questions