Gaan Ngai - The Festival of Zeliangrongs
Posted on May 2, 2008 in Art & Culture by Gitanjali
The Zeliangrongs are people who occupy regions of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. Gaan Ngai is the most popular festival of Zeliangrongs. Gaan Ngai is a festival celebrated after the harvest. Literally, the word means, ‘featival of winter season’. When the graneries are filled and the landscape dry, people focus on the celebration which involves worshipping God and honoring the dead.
What Gaan Ngai Signifies
In celebrating Gaan Ngai, homage is paid to those souls who departed the year before, their graves decorated, dances performed in their honor and a feast arranged to mark respect for them. Gaan Ngai is thus a festival dedicated to both the living and the dead.
Gaan Ngai is called the New Year, since this festival marks the end of a year and heralds a new building. The New Year is calculated by the Zeliangrongs who follow a lunar calendar of their own. The new beginning is welcomed by creating a fire called ‘Mairapmei’.
The Celebration
The first day of the festival is an invocation (‘Hoi’) to the almighty for His blessings and grace for longevity, health, success, happiness and prosperity. This day, called the Gaan Gangmei starts off at the village shrine with an elderly person offering egg and ginger to the God.
The second day of the festival is known as Tamchan Ngai. The family members of those who passed away the previous year offer gifts to other in the memory of their loved ones. The gifts include food, drinks, vegetables, meat and rice. The tamchan dance is performed to request for tam(gift). (Chan means request).
The third day of the festival is Tuna-Gaan-Ngai (Festival of the youth). Both men and women perform the Thei-Kadi-Laam, the dance to honor the dead. The dance Khanbon-Kadi-Laam is also performed to uphold the status of the aged and the elderly people of the village.
The fourth day is known as Long kuimei or Long rumei which means hill trekking. This is done by boys and girls in nearby mountain ranges. On the fifth day, Napchenmei, the pious villagers offer fowls and pigs to God for a good harvest and prosperity the following year. This is followed by an elaborate feast.
The early morning of the final day sees the members of the community exchange gifts in the form of money, bangles, necklaces etc which ends the Gaan Ngai on a happy note.
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