Music and dance play a great part in the daily lives of the Santals.  They have a vast variety of songs and dances, the performance of which are usually associated with specific festivals. The harvest festival of Sohrai is the biggest and most important festival of the Santals. During this five-day festival, Santals pay homage to their gods and their ancestors as a thanksgiving for their crops, their cattle, their ploughs and everything that has helped them attain this harvest. 

Sohrai is mainly celebrated at the beginning of the winter harvest, when the paddy has ripened, on the new moon day (amabashya) of the Bengali month of Kartik (mid October to mid November), coinciding with Kali Puja. Sohrai is the Santali name for the month of Kartik. There is much preparation that goes into the celebration of this festival and the women in particular, are worked off their feet, particularly those who celebrate in the month of Kartik, since they have to harvest the paddy and paint their walls at the same time.

 In some regions, celebrations take place at the end of the winter harvest in mid January (the end of the Bengali month of Poush), after they have reaped and threshed their paddy.  The dates vary from village to village, according to convenience, but must finish by the end of Poush. They are always decided before hand by the village heads.  

Different varieties of songs are sung for the different days of the festival and dances performed with it.  The categories of songs specific to the Sohrai festival are Sohrai, Lagre, Danta, Matwar and Gunjar.  Some of these songs are performed only by the men, while Sohrai and Lagre are performed by both men and women. There are specific musical notations for each variety of song and a specific rhythm of the drums; interestingly, these tunes vary regionally. 

While many Sohrai songs deal with the actual festival itself - the rituals, the painting on the walls and other related events, in general, Sohrai songs really cover every conceivable subject that falls within the Santal worldview. They are mostly allegorical, often referring to events that took place a long time ago.