The principal festivals are the Sarhul, celebrated when the _sal_
tree [363] flowers, the Karma or May-day when the rice is ready for
planting out, and the Kanihari or harvest celebration.
"At the Karma festival a party of young people of both sexes," says
Colonel Dalton, "proceed to the forest and cut a young _karma_ tree
(_Nauclea parvifolia_) or the branch of one; they bear this home
in triumph and plant it in the centre of the Akhara or wrestling
ground. Next morning all may be seen at an early hour in holiday
array, the elders in groups under the fine old tamarind trees that
surround the Akhara, and the youth of both sexes, arm-linked in a
huge circle, dancing round the _karma_ tree, which, festooned with
garlands, decorated with strips of coloured cloth and sham bracelets
and necklets of plaited straw, and with the bright faces and merry
laughter of the young people encircling it, reminds one of the
gift-bearing tree so often introduced at our own great festival." The
tree, however, probably corresponds to the English Maypole, and the
festival celebrates the renewal of vegetation.