Renowned poet Jibanananda Das dedicated an entire poem about the impacts of the Nabanna festival in the early morning. Not very long ago, the Nabanna festival of Chalan Beel used to be known for its spirit of bringing joy and pain to the farmers of Chalan Beel and their agricultural life.
Right in the middle of the fall season, vibes would arrive over all the local households surrounding Chalan Beel. A typical Nabanna Festival would start with the new paddy cutting and threshing process getting completed before the harvest. That rice would get boiled-dried later for "pitha-puli" and other similar desserts.
The wives and daughters-in-law would get ready to prepare the deserts that symbolized their culture with excitement. The newlywed wives would call upon their husbands to celebrate the occasion together. The house's courtyard would get decorated with personalized arrangements of coloured paper. Farmers used to buy jaggery from distant markets.
Cultural and creative sessions would occur on the village market or at crowd gatherings, with vastly different types of songs like Fakiranti being played.
There were many more great cultural festivals like the Nabanna festival, especially at the peak of Hindu culture. Those periods are remembered by many as the golden days. Nowadays, Nabanna is not celebrated as it used to be in Chana Beel, with modern styles taking over.
Moreover, there has already been a change in the agricultural society of Chana Beel. Highways have been created, which run through the middle of the localities and communication system improvements have taken place. Subsequently, the lifestyle has changed with motorcycles in almost every house, followed by television and dish lines.
In addition, large farmers no longer cultivate; they take money by leasing the land. Hence the smell of rice bran doesn't hold its place in their courtyards. They do not bring daughters and sons-in-law to Nabanna of Ogrohayon and celebrate with desserts. Overall, it provides an artificial feel, certainly not as genuine as before.
Another aspect of the change is the reduction of ethnic minority societies like the Santals, the Mahanta and many more. These societies used to pay their respects to the Nabanna more grandly than others.
On the full moon night, the locality used to forget the hardships of life in the addiction to Jhumur songs. The nights of Nabanna in tribal villages were glorified by various arrangements. There is no longer that rhythm.
However, the sons-in-law and daughters-in-law are still being fed by the people of Chalan Beel on the occasion of Nabanna. Although the lifestyle is slowly changing with each day along with cultural traditions.