Ceremonies of Manipur
Manipur is a land of many things and when I think of all the many things that makes up a Manipuri, I can't help thinking about the Ceremonies that go on all year long. Ceremonies are a part and parcel of a Manipuri's life. I still remember the joys I had experienced as a child when all the relatives would come to our house for a never ending plethora of ceremonies... The first ceremony, along a Manipri's life cycle, is held on the fith day of a child's birth. It is called the Swasti Puja.
Swasti Puja: I don't know what it signifies, but it certainly is a very sweet way of welcoming a new born to thw world. It is like the first birthday of a child, where all friends and relatives comes to have a dekko at the child and offers the child a Daan. My mom still remembers the uncle, a good friend of father's who dropped a 50 rupee note on my swati day, and those days 50 bucks would at least buy 2000 bucks worth of things today. Of course I was his favorite nephew for asong as I was a Kid, and yes, the amount signifies how special a child is to the person. No, its doesn't mean a rich uncle will be more special, but a poor uncle going out of his way to offer a daan of 50 rupees then would mean a lot of things. Attaching money to love seems a little out of taste today, but it is a sweet tradition nonetheless, its a diffrent matter that one gets invited to a swasti pooja too ofetn and has to shell out 500 bucks each time. Social activists today are quite vocal against the monetary gifts. The guests of course are dined.
Next ceremony in one's Life Cycle is the chagumba( I don't know how to spell it), maybe Chaumba. It is the ceremony of feeding a child his/her first solid food. I believe, the Bengalis also have a similar tradition. Learnt about it when I read's Jhumpa Lahiri's Namesake. It was a striking similarity though, maybe the whole ceremony was a Bengali legacy, a sweet legacy nonetheless. The similarity was in the ceremonial tradition of letting the baby choose between pen, money, soil and other stuff which would theoretically decide where the future of the Child lie. But I believe it could be changed litle bit today, we could place a stethoscope, a laptop and the money. Today, one becomes either a doctor, computer engineer or an MBA anyway.
The next ceremony is called the Naa-hutpa, or ear pierching. Yes, we do have ear pierchings. I am talking about Men. So, when you see a Meetei Guy next time with a small hole in the earlobe, don't think he is cool or too fashion conscious. It is just a tradition thrust upon us when we cannot say yes or No. Of course, once the boy passes puberty and becomes conscious of his Manhood, the earrings are removed. I still have pictures with my earrings on, I have it back home so I can't post it now. This ceremony is conducted with much fanfare with Friends and relatives from all over and a grand feast to celebrate, we don't accept gifts though an over enthusiastic uncle or aunt slips a 100 rupee note into the kids hand much to his surprise, a pleasant surprise I presume. oh, there has to be a grand feast on every occasion. Will save grand feast, we call it Utsav for the last. And the child's head is clean shaven and goes through a ritual of cleansing. A very beautiful sight.
Next to Nahutpa would be the Lagun thangba or lagun ceremony. Every Manipuri Hindu wears the Lagun or the holy thread. Of course we keep it hidden, we consider it uncool to be to religious. We wear it or the customery one month after the ceremony and then keep it inside our suitcases. Manipuri Brahmins wear it all their lives. Lagun cremony is done anytime after a Male child reaches the age of 15. I had mine when I was 17, where I had to act as if I was going away as a brahmachari and my mom and her friedns and my aunts would act like they will stop me from going. The boy's head will be again clean shaven. Oh, so my head have been shaved clean at least twice and have undergo the same everytime a family member expires. So, the boy's head will be shaven clean and dones safrone dhoti and upper cloth. I went around like a begging monk, and they would fill my jhola with rice, pulses, money gold and silver. I will practice brahmachrihood for 7 days after wich I would be certified to get married.
Next ceremony would be marriage, there might be a House Warming ceremony called the Yum Sangaba, if the person ever builds a House(we still dont have matchbox house system yet) and the ceremonial cycle completes after one expires on the fourtheenth day of one's expiry when we perform the shrad. It doesn't stop there. For one whole year, we have a grand feast every month and then every death anniversary afterwards. The ceremony never ends in The land of jewels.... and add to it the festivals that come in between.
PS: By the way yesterday was Ningol Chakouba. While bhaidhooj was celebrated in western part of India. Ningol Chakouba could be called the most Important festival in Manipur. It is most like raksha bandhan, but only for the Married Women- Ningol, chakouba mean an invitation to a feast. On this day, married women come to their parental abode for a fun filled day of a grand feast and gifts from the parents and brothers. It is a festival every Manipuri keeps close to the heart, the day starting with cleaning of varieties of fishes and fish delicacies of all kinds cooked for the Ningols. I miss ningol Chakouba when all my aunts would come, and all the delicacies. Especially, the fresh water fish cooked lie kheema.... shall post the recipe at anthonyskitchen soon ..
Do read about the people fo manipur from previous posts
Swasti Puja: I don't know what it signifies, but it certainly is a very sweet way of welcoming a new born to thw world. It is like the first birthday of a child, where all friends and relatives comes to have a dekko at the child and offers the child a Daan. My mom still remembers the uncle, a good friend of father's who dropped a 50 rupee note on my swati day, and those days 50 bucks would at least buy 2000 bucks worth of things today. Of course I was his favorite nephew for asong as I was a Kid, and yes, the amount signifies how special a child is to the person. No, its doesn't mean a rich uncle will be more special, but a poor uncle going out of his way to offer a daan of 50 rupees then would mean a lot of things. Attaching money to love seems a little out of taste today, but it is a sweet tradition nonetheless, its a diffrent matter that one gets invited to a swasti pooja too ofetn and has to shell out 500 bucks each time. Social activists today are quite vocal against the monetary gifts. The guests of course are dined.
Next ceremony in one's Life Cycle is the chagumba( I don't know how to spell it), maybe Chaumba. It is the ceremony of feeding a child his/her first solid food. I believe, the Bengalis also have a similar tradition. Learnt about it when I read's Jhumpa Lahiri's Namesake. It was a striking similarity though, maybe the whole ceremony was a Bengali legacy, a sweet legacy nonetheless. The similarity was in the ceremonial tradition of letting the baby choose between pen, money, soil and other stuff which would theoretically decide where the future of the Child lie. But I believe it could be changed litle bit today, we could place a stethoscope, a laptop and the money. Today, one becomes either a doctor, computer engineer or an MBA anyway.
The next ceremony is called the Naa-hutpa, or ear pierching. Yes, we do have ear pierchings. I am talking about Men. So, when you see a Meetei Guy next time with a small hole in the earlobe, don't think he is cool or too fashion conscious. It is just a tradition thrust upon us when we cannot say yes or No. Of course, once the boy passes puberty and becomes conscious of his Manhood, the earrings are removed. I still have pictures with my earrings on, I have it back home so I can't post it now. This ceremony is conducted with much fanfare with Friends and relatives from all over and a grand feast to celebrate, we don't accept gifts though an over enthusiastic uncle or aunt slips a 100 rupee note into the kids hand much to his surprise, a pleasant surprise I presume. oh, there has to be a grand feast on every occasion. Will save grand feast, we call it Utsav for the last. And the child's head is clean shaven and goes through a ritual of cleansing. A very beautiful sight.
Next to Nahutpa would be the Lagun thangba or lagun ceremony. Every Manipuri Hindu wears the Lagun or the holy thread. Of course we keep it hidden, we consider it uncool to be to religious. We wear it or the customery one month after the ceremony and then keep it inside our suitcases. Manipuri Brahmins wear it all their lives. Lagun cremony is done anytime after a Male child reaches the age of 15. I had mine when I was 17, where I had to act as if I was going away as a brahmachari and my mom and her friedns and my aunts would act like they will stop me from going. The boy's head will be again clean shaven. Oh, so my head have been shaved clean at least twice and have undergo the same everytime a family member expires. So, the boy's head will be shaven clean and dones safrone dhoti and upper cloth. I went around like a begging monk, and they would fill my jhola with rice, pulses, money gold and silver. I will practice brahmachrihood for 7 days after wich I would be certified to get married.
Next ceremony would be marriage, there might be a House Warming ceremony called the Yum Sangaba, if the person ever builds a House(we still dont have matchbox house system yet) and the ceremonial cycle completes after one expires on the fourtheenth day of one's expiry when we perform the shrad. It doesn't stop there. For one whole year, we have a grand feast every month and then every death anniversary afterwards. The ceremony never ends in The land of jewels.... and add to it the festivals that come in between.
PS: By the way yesterday was Ningol Chakouba. While bhaidhooj was celebrated in western part of India. Ningol Chakouba could be called the most Important festival in Manipur. It is most like raksha bandhan, but only for the Married Women- Ningol, chakouba mean an invitation to a feast. On this day, married women come to their parental abode for a fun filled day of a grand feast and gifts from the parents and brothers. It is a festival every Manipuri keeps close to the heart, the day starting with cleaning of varieties of fishes and fish delicacies of all kinds cooked for the Ningols. I miss ningol Chakouba when all my aunts would come, and all the delicacies. Especially, the fresh water fish cooked lie kheema.... shall post the recipe at anthonyskitchen soon ..
Do read about the people fo manipur from previous posts
There seem to be an avian scare in manipur.
Fearing a possible outbreak of Bird flu in Manipur following the death of a
red legged falcon at Barak in Tamenglong on November 1, the administration has
launched a campaign to make people aware of the deadly disease.
''There is
every possibility of the deadly avian influenza reaching the eastern region of
India since birds are migratory in nature,'' veterinary officials here
said
posted by Admin at 8:19 PM
7 Comments:
What makes your blog so special Anthony is the very warm empathy that you bring to each description. All the ceremonies stand out as personal milestones, and not banal rituals.
The avian flu report is disturbing. I hope the administration takes adequate preventive measures.
I try :-)
That's fascinating Anthony! Moroccan people give monetary gifts to new-born babies too. I was suprised when my mother checked under the crib's mattress at the hospital and removed an incredible amount of bills from there. Visitors discretely tucked them there when they greeted my baby son. But I had no way of knowing who gave how much. Very anonymous. The total sum was important and my mother used it to organize a lavish baptise reception.
Your description has educated me learn a lot about Manipur Customs. Thanks for sharing.
When I went to North East last month, I saw a few young boys between the ages of 5 to 12 - all wearing earrings. The earrings were not any fashionable ones -
simple golden hoops. Also a few boys had a tied shikha - you know the tied long hair that vaishnava people wear in the back of the head.
So I was wondering whether it was a custom followed by everyone.
So, I understand that Naa-hutpa is the ceremony when the boy's ear are pierced. At what age is the ceremony normally held? At what age is the earring taken off? Is the earring always taken off or boys have a choice to keep wearing them if they want to?
Of Course, I visited Mumbai last month and saw a big trend of young guys wearing earrings on one ear.
Now did you and your friends wear a shikha (the tied long hair in the back) also?
The Lagun thangba ceremony in our language is called "Poyite" or "Janehu".
In our customs, the ears are pierced during this ceremony. My ears were pierced with a big needle and thick black thread. The head was shaved clean except for the thick long shikha. The holy thread is invested. I wore the
saffron clothes and wooden sandals (now that was fun - made loud noise). I went begging for alms and put in stuff in my jhola. So that was it. You did that for 7 days. I did it for 3 days. The reception was after the third day.
Within a few days, the thick black thread came off the ears. My dad did not want hole marks. The black thread looked ugly. I guess if they were cute golden earrings, I would have worn them longer. The shikha went away after 6 months or so when I had a formal haircut.
hi anthony
i m Any,i liked ur article very much...and i hope all meiteis understand their values and remember who they are..why because most of the people who stay far off tend to forget their values and tradition...i have seen it but i know that i have not forgotten my roots and m proud to be manipuri...i think its high time for all the manipuris to come forward show who they are instead of being ashamed of their identity...keeping that aside ur article is superb and wonderful which really touched my heart...
I like ur article.. its good.But youngster of this generation especially girls are making our identity bad.
Girls used to hang out with "MAYANG" & share physical contact..
Yougster in cities like Delhi, pune ,mumbai etc. used to term manipuri girl as " EASY GIRL". Means very easy to have sexual relationship..
Because of this i sometime feel shamed of my identity..
Due to this reason , our tradition, cultures are exploited & not respect by others.
I don't mean that we should not enjoy life & have friends but we should not forget that we are manipuri & respect our culture & society..
your post on "Ceremonies of Manipur"
is just amazing. i was just surfing regarding my work but i got bored in between . so, thought of reading something espicially on Manipur, so just happen to read ur Blog. It will serve as a golden knowledge sheet to many youngsters who are devoid of all the customs and rituals.
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