Festivals. 1. Connected with Crops.—The Tikhup, the only monotheistic clan in the hills, have no ceremonies connected with the crops, but allow no dancing, singing, or music in the village between the sowing and the reaping.
Among the other Old Kuki clans there is a great resemblance between the festivals, and their connection with the Lushai “Kuts” can be easily traced—in some cases, as among the Kom, the name being actually the same.
A festival which is common to several clans and generally takes place in the spring, though sometimes later, and is supposed to ensure good crops and good luck generally, is known by various similar names, all meaning “Pulling the Creeper.”
Kolhen “Keidun” Festival.—This occurs in April. The first day, called “Karamindai,” or “Changritakhoi,” is occupied by the young men going off to bring in two long creepers. A fowl and a pig are sacrificed and the creepers are hung over a post. On the next day the creepers are brought to the khul-lakpa’s stone, and he, saying certain charms, pours out a libation of rice beer, and then a tug of war takes place between two parties selected as follows:—On one side are all the young men of the khul-lakpa’s family—viz., the Chongthu—and on the other those of the Jete, to which the lup-lakpa belongs. With the Chongthu pull the young men of the following families—viz., Tulthung, Maite, Tiante, Laishel, Songchungnung, while with the Jete are associated the young men of the Lunglai, Rembual, Mirem Tumtin, and Vanbie. The girls of each family pull on the opposite side to the young men of their family. While the pull is in progress the khul-lakpa sings a song, and when he reaches a certain point the rope is cut in two by a man who stands waiting with a dao. The pull is repeated with the second creeper, and each party carries off the ends it has retained. Marriages are only allowed between the young people who pull on the same side, with the exception of the Chongthu, who, being of the chief’s family, may marry a girl of any family except their own. During the festival no work of any sort must be done, but otherwise there are no restrictions as regards villagers or strangers, but the khul-lakpa must abstain from work and from cohabitation for two or three days before. Should a death occur a day or two before the date fixed for the festival, the fact will not be recognised till the completion of the feast, when the funeral ceremonies will take place as if the death had occurred on that day, the corpse being kept outside the village during the interval.
The Anal and Lamgang, as usual, observe the festival in a similar manner. The creeper having been brought to the gate of the village, the headmen and the thempu receive it, and the latter, muttering prayers, pours over it a libation of rice beer, and then ties a piece of it to the gate. The remainder is cut up and a piece is tied to each house in the village. The thempu goes round at night throwing a piece of turmeric into each house and calling out as he throws each piece, “From to-day may all evil and misfortune run away from this house.”[1]
The Purum celebrate the festival in August, and the unmarried girls take a prominent part in the ceremony. A raised platform is made before the house of the eldest unmarried girl in the village. (In a community where there is no dearth of husbands, and every girl is sure of being married in due course, the prominence given to the eldest spinster is not objected to as it might be in an English village.) On this platform the girls assemble, and the creeper after the usual ceremonies is tied to the platform, and there is a great feast with much dancing between the young folk.
The similarity between these festivals and the “Koi-hrui-an-chat,” mentioned under the Ngente, bears out the truth of the tradition that these clans long ago were near neighbours.
The Chiru at the time of cutting the jhums go in procession with drums and gongs to the place chosen and on their return drink much rice beer. In March or April, before the sowing, a festival called “Arem” is celebrated. On the first day a dog is killed at a stone to the west of the village, and a pig to the north in the direction of the hill Kobru. All the men attend, but no women. The animals are killed by the thempu. The flesh is eaten there by the whole party, and the “sherh” are left at the place of sacrifice. There is then a drinking party in the house of the thempu. On the second day all the young men go and catch fish, and on their return they are entertained with two pots of rice beer by the unmarried girls. On the third day the lup-lakpa gives a feast of meat and rice, washed down by much rice beer, to the men only, and later all dance in front of the “chhirbuk”—i.e., Lushai zawlbuk.
The fourth day is spent in visiting each other, drinking and singing at each other’s houses. As soon as it is dark men and women meet before the chhirbuk and dance round the stone drinking; then they go to the lup-lakpa’s house and drink again, and then to a house where all the unmarried girls are collected and drink again, and then bring the girls to the chhirbuk and dance round the stone again, drinking as they go. This is a pretty heavy day’s work, and it speaks well for the young folk if many of them have the energy to complete the programme by drinking and dancing together on the fifth day. During the festival the village is “sherh.”
The Chawte, before cutting their jhums, sacrifice a pig and go down to the stream and sharpen their daos—“Trust in God, but keep your powder dry.” The above festivals correspond to the “Chap-chār-kut” of the Lushais, and the following resemble the “Mim-kut.” The Purum in September observe “Chulkut” for five days, making and exchanging rice cakes and drinking rice beer, but not sacrificing any animals. The Kolhen observe “Chamershi” for two days in the middle of the rains—viz., in July or August. A pig and a cock are sacrificed in the khul-lakpa’s house and eaten there by men only. Old men dance, and rice beer is drunk. This feast is supposed to expel evil spirits. The Chiru in July sacrifice a pig on behalf of the village to Pathian, while each household offers him a fowl. This feast is called the “feast of the hot season rest”—i.e., the few days of leisure after the second weeding of the crops.