A vanishing tradition
by Abu Md Masani
In late October, paddy ripens in the fields. It is the season for harvesting. Dew begins to fall at dawn and the time is ripe for pitha utsav.
Making pitha (pies) with fresh rice flour and eating them, sitting around a fire, on a cold morning with the whole family was the most common scene in our rural life. Once, there was hardly a village in Bangladesh where the pitha-making culture did not exist. But now we are about to lose that, slowly.
Nabanna, a festival celebrating new crops, is enjoyed all over the country just as the season changes from autumn to winter. Poush, the main winter month, is the favourite time for having succulent pitha in ones courtyard on chilly mornings or foggy evenings. Our elderly relatives often talk about what fantastic moments they used to have with family and visiting relatives during such times.
Creating different types of pitha was an inherent part of our culture. In rural areas, women would use dhekhi (wooden thresher) to husk and grind rice. They would then mix the freshly ground rice with grated coconut, gur (molasses), oil, water or oil to make pitha. Bhapa pitha, chitoi pitha, dudher pitha, puli pitha, patishapta pitha are still favourites.
After making pitha, rural folks would also distribute them among neighbours and relatives. During this season, any visitor in the morning would be offered bhapa pitha, dudher pitha or chitoi pitha with gur, instead of biscuits.
One of the essential ingredients of pitha is date juice. It is also a very tasty drink when taken directly from the pot where it collects overnight. But this juice has nowadays become a rarity as date trees are rampantly felled for constructing houses or roads in rural areas.
Not long ago, pitha, chira (flattened rice), muri (puffed rice), gur and fresh milk were staples in any rural home _ rich or poor. Unfortunately, now these items have been rep1aced with biscuits, packet sugar, powder milk and other processed foods.
Although pitha is becoming a rare delicacy in rural areas, it is gaining popularity in urban areas. Pitha is now made in many houses in the cities in winter with great fervour. Even on the roadsides, we see crowds around street vendors who make bhapa or chitoi pitha to order.
We are proud of our traditions and we want to preserve them at any cost. We surely do not want our future generations to only read about pitha in books.
So, lets not lose the art of pitha-making and the comforting ritual of sharing the delicacies with family and friends on cold winter days.
