Festivals of the Karbis

Among the festivals observed by the Karbis, mention may be made of the “Chojun”, “Rongker”, “Sok-keroi”, “Hacha-Kekan” and “Chomangkan” etc. While the former four festivals are socio-religious in nature, the letter is a social one.

The spot for “Chojun” is when “ancestors” are propitiated is generally selected near the house of the family which wishes to perform the ritual. The deities in this festival are Barithe, Sar Arnam, Arni and the Hi:i and other smaller deities. Hemphu, the greatest God of the Karbis is also propitiated. The ritual is performed for the welfare of the family.

Rongker is performed at the beginning of the new year by propitiating the different deities for the well being of the entire village. The deities are worshipped by all the elderly male people of the village so that with their blessings the people of the village could be free from diseases, natural calamities during the year and the families could have a good harvest. The women are not allowed to enter into the worship arena.

There is an another kind of Rongker performed in a greater scale. This type of Rongker which is performed at the beginning of every 5 years is called ‘Wofong Rongker’. This Wofong Rongker is performed for the well-being of all the people of the villages that fall within a larger  jurisdiction. Each village is represented by the village headman and a number of village elders (males only) in the performance of the Wofong Rongker. While the Rongker performed for a village is only of one day’s duration, the Wofong Rongker continues for two days.

Sok-keroi festival is observed at the end of every harvesting season. The ripened paddy is cut and taken to a place specially cleared in the field. Then the paddy is husked on the floor and the paddy is collected. A large number of young men go and collect paddy in bags and bring them home. There starts a great rejoicing and the young ones dance to their hearts’ content. Sok-keroi means ‘carrying of the paddy’ from the field. In the festival, one person is selected as the leader who provides the leadership in dancing and singing. He is called ‘LUNSÉPO”. He is the director of singing and dancing.

The Hacha-Kekan is not exactly based on the folk-tales.Hacha-Kekan festival is associated with post harvest rejoicings. There is no fear element in it and there is no need to propitiate any god. Hence it is to be assumed that the Hacha-Kekan is secular in its activities and differs substantially from another festival – RONGKER. Because, the latter needs the propitiation of god.

Although, the Karbis perform the funeral ceremony at the time of the cremation of the deceased, they also perform the death ceremony called “Chomangkan” at a later date for the eternal peace of the deceased. It is the most elaborate and expensive socio-religious ceremony of the Karbis, which continues for four days and four nights non-stop.The ceremony does not require any formal invitation and all are welcome to it. In spite of the sad undertone, it is an important occasion for the family to welcome all with great warmth. They come in batches and everyone carries a symbolical and ceremonial totem with 5 (five) branches. At the top of main totem, there is a  wooden “Vo-jaru” (racket-tailed drongo). The totem is called “Jambili Athon”. This is the symbolical representation of the tribe and it is also the symbol of clan unity.

Photo Above:-Jambili Athon

The Jambili is a very interesting phenomenon. The tribe has five Kurs or clans and the Jambili has five branches. Under the cover of it, the Karbis listen the story of their origin. It is called “Muchera Kehir”.

RONGKER & CHOMANGKAN

Celebrated In : Karbi Anglong, Assam.   Celebrated by : Karbi Tribe   Significance of Rongker : For the well being of people and good harvest   Significance of Chomangkan : Death Ceremony

Blue and lusty green hills, covered with mist, the giggling springs, fragrance of wild flowers, and the call of the cuckoos have made Karbi Anglong the peaceful abode of the Karbis, the Mongoloid group who migrated to this land several hundred years BC. Karbis are very peace loving people.

Peculiar Features Of The Karbi Festivals Rongker and Chomangkan are the two most important festivals of the Karbis. Rongker is basically a springtime festival and is performed at the beginning of the New Year. To propitiate different gods and goddesses for the well being of the entire village, the elderly male folk organise Rongker so that people could be free from diseases, natural calamities for the entire year. They pray for a good harvest too. The women are not allowed to enter the worship arena.

On the other hand, Chomangkan is a festival, dedicated to the dead. It is primarily a death ceremony. It depends upon the convenience of the locality. This festival is a must for every Karbi. It is a non-stop four days rituals

Amongst The Plains Karbis there are basically three main social festivals:

1) DOMAHI

It is celebrated in the months of March-April. It is a festival of thanks giving to the almighty Hemphu, the traditional god head of the Karbi Household. Each member of the social setup of the village is known as MEKAR, which might be the origin of the word MIKIR as the tribes were known till very recently and in fact still do in some of the official documents. However this is just a hypothesis I would like to go more deeply into. During the festival all the ancestors of the village are remembered and worshipped, which is indeed very similar to the practice of their hills cousin. This practice is known as SAR-KACHERDUNG. “lit. ANCESTOR REMEMBER” the same as SAR ANTHOK among the Hill Karbis.

2) MONO KE-EN

Literally Mono means Paddy or Rice and Ke-en means to take. It is generally an affair of 2 days, once in five years. All unmarried males and females of the village are to take part in the occasions. In the house of Riso Bangthe (an authority concern with the affairs of the youth of the village) the traditional folklore about the origin of rice and the route of migration taken by the Karbis from the place of their origin are retold. It is very much the same story which is told amongst the Hills Karbis (Mosera-Kihir) but with the name ‘Karbi Kevang’ “ lit. Karbi Coming” with some addition like the reason for the Karbis to start moving out from their ancestral village somewhere near Inglong Kelok “ lit. Mountain White” , which is unmistakably the Himalaya mountain range. There is a mentioned of Lhasa also on the way. The mentioning of KLENG MEKAR, on whose head a flame of fire always glow to lead the Karbis during darkness is intriguingly interesting and to be noted. He is not mention anywhere in Mosera-Kihir, the hill version. Terang were supposed to be the porter who carried all the essential items needed for the whole village. The reason mentioned for the Karbis to move out of the ancestral village is also very interesting. It is said that the Karbis being very poetic and romantic once tried to touch the moon and play with it, seeing it stationed beautifully on the top of the INGLONG KELOK. But when they climbed up to the top of the mountain and found the moon to be still afar and unreachable, then only did they realized their mistake. Since they felt ashamed to return to their ancestral village they decided to move forward towards the east and settled down somewhere else, which is not found in MOSERA-KIHIR. The mention of the river TERON LONGSO, where the TERON with divine power helped the others to cross a river with huge width by stretching himself like a bridge is also very interesting, which has again no mention in Mosera-Kihir with the exception of the river TERON LONGSO, where the paddy was supposed to be discovered by the Karbis which coincide very much with the version of the hills Karbis.

3) RONG KEHUM

Literally Rong Kehum means Village Curfew. It is generally a three days affair once in five years. Just like the name suggested a kind of curfew is imposed in the village with all the roads leading to the village being blocked with thorn and bushes. No outsider is welcome to the village during these three days affair. However they can come and witness the ritual by taking non traditional route. This festival is generally celebrated during the winter. It is very much similar to the Rongker of the hills Karbis. This is all male affairs and no female is allowed during the rituals. The fences are broken and lots of hue and cry is created during the rituals as a symbol to chase away evils from the village during the night using a long stick. If any person comes out of the house during the ritual then he might be killed assuming to be an evil spirits and no blame is to be confer upon the evil spirits chasers.