If you are looking for the river festival, then Dwijing is the one you should visit and enjoy. It's celebrated in the BTR region of Bodoland, Assam state. It's a 12 days long event where lakhs of people visit from all over the place, especially from the BTR region, neighboring districts of the state Assam, a few from all over India, and even some guests and participants from the International.
Dwijing History:
Dwijing started five years back. In the year 2016-17, It was first celebrated with the name of Air river festival. Then it got renamed Dwijing from next year onwards.
The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Dwijing festival celebration went fantastic. Unfortunately, the 5th one, which was supposed to start today on 27 Dec 2020, until 7 Jan 2021, was canceled because of the Coronavirus.
Now, we'll have to wait for the 6th one, i.e., Dwijing festival 2021-22.
Dwijing Location:
The location of the Dwijing festival is AIE river park, Hagrama bridge, Chirang, BTR, Assam.
Dwijing Fame:
In a short span, the Dwijing popularity rose to fame. Lakhs of people started visiting it every year. The maximum number of people are from the Bodoland, aka Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), of Assam. These are mainly Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, and Udalguri.
Rest visitors from the other Assam districts, and few from every state of Indian and foreign nationals. It's estimated that Dwijing gets to see a record visitors of approx 15-20 lakhs every year. With the passing year, the number of visitors keeps on increasing.
Dwijing got inaugurated by the State tourism and BTR tourism department for the rural region's economic development. The Hon'ble CM of Assam state inaugurates along with other dignitaries of the state and the BTR region.
The big celebrities of the National and regional level take part some willingly or some through invitation, which attracts most of the public attractions.
Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand, etc., are part of a few International participants who happily showcase their traditional dance and other cultural activities.
Dwijing activities:
There are several activities in Dwijing that keep visitors entertain and busy, and the best thing is that a few new activities are added every year. Few glances are like:
Ethnic Trade
Ethnic Food Festivals
Exhibitions
Games and Sports
River campaigns like Boat ride, River Rafting, Speed Boats
Adventure Activities include traditional games like Boxing, Archery, Cycling, etc., and joyrides like Hot air balloons, Helicopter ride, Elephant ride, etc.
And lastly the cultural programs by various communities and celebrities.
Dwijing 2020-21:
With the unprecedented COVID 19, we all were looking for the end of Coronavirus and looking forward eagerly to the fifth Dwijing celebration of 2020-21, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. The vast gathering is a considerable risk and challenging for the government to take a chance if any infected take part in the Dwijing festive celebration.
Today, 27 Dec 2020, was supposed to be the start date of the 5th Dwijing festival, but now we'll have to bid good-bye to it and wait for the 6th Dwijing festival of 2021-22.
For further update, visit this Dwijing website.