The Santal festival of Sohrai is celebrated with a variety of songs and dances by both men and women. The tunes of these songs along with the rhythm played out on the drums, that accompany these performances, vary from region to region. In certain Santal regions like Medinipur, southern Bankura and southern Purulia, the Sarpa dance is also part of Sohrai celebrations.  

This dance is performed by Santal women who use a unique percussion instrument, also known as Sarpa. The Sarpa instrument is of comparatively recent vintage. According to a local resource, it was apparently created as an alternative percussion instrument to the traditional Tumda and Tamak used during their Sohrai, post the Santal Rebellion of 1855. With the British keeping a sharp lookout for group gatherings, and percussion essential for the dances during Sohrai, Santals in the Jhargram area of Medinipur decided to create a percussion instrument that would not attract as much attention as the booming traditional drums.  While the use of the instrument later spread to other regions, perhaps through migration, it generally remains restricted only to the regions mentioned above.  The Sarpa is not practised in Santal villages of northern regions of either Purulia or Bankura.

Traditionally, the Sarpa dance is performed on the 3rd day of the festival, the Khuntau Maha, when the women, in a formation of two lines, dance in the lanes of the village, to the specific beat of their instruments. While some dancers use the Sarpa, others dancers gently beat a brass bowl against a brass plate, matching the rhythm of the sarpa. In a synchronized manner, the dancers softly and elegantly tap the ground with one foot and then the other, to the measured beat of the percussion. They do not move from their positions, but at the end of every verse of the song, the women slowly turn around en masse and continue dancing, turning again at the end of the verse.  

The Sarpa songs which accompany the dance are sung by the women themelves and have a specific tune. All Sarpa songs, irrespective of lyrics, are sung to this tune. At the end of the dance, it is customary for the Manjhi of the village to offer them uncooked rice as a reward. The dancers then move on to neighbouring villages.