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2015
In 2015, the National Tribal Festival- Vanaj was hosted at Central Park- Connaught Place, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, and at Baba Kharak Singh Marg in New Delhi from February 13 to February 18. The festival featured dance performances by tribes from across India along with the screenings of documentaries about the tribal people of India and seminars about specific aspects of tribal life, such as tribal knowledge and folklore.

2016
In 2016 it was referred to as the National Tribal Carnival and was hosted at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from October 25 to October 28. The focus of the Carnival was to bring the nation’s tribal people to the capital in order to showcase their unique talents and to preserve their heritage in terms of culture, tradition, customs, and skills. There were approximately 1600 tribal artists present and around 8000 tribal delegates attended the festival from a majority of the Indian states.

2017
In 2017, the festival underwent a name change and began to be referred to as “Aadi Mahotsav”. This decision was in collaboration with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED). The Mahotsav was hosted at Dilli Haat, INA Market, Central Park at Connaught Place, and at Baba Kharak Singh Marg in New Delhi from November 16 to November 30. There were approximately 750 tribal artisans and artists present at the Mahotsav from 27 Indian states and they set up around 200 stalls showcasing their unique handiwork. The theme of the Mahotsav was ‘A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Culture, Cuisine and Commerce’ and there were exhibits of tribal handicrafts, art, paintings, fabrics, jewellery and many more creative pieces.

2018
In 2018 the Mahotsav was hosted at Dilli Haat and at the INA Market in New Delhi from November 16 to November 30. There were approximately 430 tribal artisans and artists present at the Mahotsav from 23 Indian states and they set up around 159 stalls which was a decrease in comparison to the 2017 Mahotsav. It featured tribal arts and crafts, medicine and healing practices, tribal cuisine and tribal folk performances, such as dance performances by tribes from Gujarat, Jharkhand, Manipur, Leh and Ladakh, as well as folk singers from Rajasthan.

Tribal Arts
The artistic life of the tribal people is reflected through three forms of artistic expression: oral literature, magic and dance, as well as art and dance. Their artistic life includes the following components: folklore, folk music and dance, along with folk-art handicrafts and acrobatics. Folklore encompasses aspects of oral literature, such as myths, tales, legends, riddles, proverbs, song and verse. Folk music and dance include myths, tales, legends, folk-song music and folk dances. Folk-art handicrafts include folk drawing, painting, carving, woodcraft, metal craft and garment making with wood or cotton decorations.

Tribal Folklore
The folklore of the tribal people is an unwritten record of their cultural life and it orally expresses key components of their culture. The oral literature of the tribal societies is significant to their existence as they orally transmit their knowledge and culture over the years to future generations. The tribal people emphasize the functions of folklore over its form. The various functions of folklore are: to provide education; especially the education of children which allows for folklore to serve as pedagogic devices because tribal societies are non-literate, helping to promote feelings of solidarity and belonging within a tribe by validating its culture, ritual and institutions, social protest or control, and as a distraction from reality for purposes of leisure entertainment or when completing daily activities.

Tribal Dance
Dance is integral to the communal lives of India’s tribal people. It is considered to be a primitive form of artistic expression where human movement is utilized to express all emotions. The tribal people dance because they believe they are meant to use their body movement in order to express their emotions which is why their dances are not choreographed, as traditionally they are not meant to be acts of public performances. Their dances are ancient in origin and have distinct sociological, psychological and historical backgrounds associated with them. Characteristics of tribal dances include: spontaneous expressions, the participation of all members of the tribes, and there are no artificial barriers put in place between the performers and the audience. The tribal find inspiration for their dances in the seasons and nature in general because it is one of their main motivators, along with customs, and their religious heritage. They have deep values rooted in nature which is why their dances are an offering of worship to nature and its gods in order to thank nature for what it has given to them. Other occasions when the tribal people dance include: birth, death, marriage and festival.

Tribal remedies and treatments
The tribal people have their own distinct healing traditions that are unique to individual tribal communities. Individual tribal communities have their own unique healthcare remedies and resources along with different ideas and views about diseases, along with life and death which are deeply engraved in their belief systems. Tribal medication and treatments have not been developed in the same scientific manner as modern day medicine, instead medicine and treatments have progressed through the time-tested experiences of the tribal peoples. The tribal connect health with the natural environment and believe that there should be an adequate balance maintained between the human body and the natural environment. When this balance between the two is disturbed it results in an illness. They also base their remedies and treatments off the natural environment, searching for natural remedies from nature itself through the use of medicinal plants, syrups, decoctions and infusions. All of these medicinal practices and treatments are passed over the generations through traditions of oral transmission. The tribal continue to have an increased dependence on their traditional forms of medications and treatments in the modern day time period because of their geographic isolation and financial constraints.