KASIK MELO PAKU

BY-: YANGPE RANGJANG (Yangperangjang10056@gmail.com)

S. KASIK BANGSIA (Kasiknok@gmail.com)

KASIK NOCTES HAVE THE MOST DISTINCT CULTURE AND ARE AMONGST MOST GORGEOUS TRIBE OF TIRAP DISTRICT IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH.

THE KASIK DIALECT IS PARTICULARLY SPOKEN IN KASIK VILLAGES LIKE NOKSA, CHIBI (OLD TUPI), CHIBI NOKHAAN ( NEW TUPI) , BOACHIM (PULLONG) , KHAMCHHING VILLAGE (KHAMTHIN), HILANI NAGA GAON IN SIVASAGAR DISTRICT OF ASSAM AND POANTOAN VILLAGE IN DIBRUGARH DISTRICT OF ASSAM (**MANY FEW YET TO BE ASCERTAINED).

THEY ARE THE PLETHORA OF TRIBE THAT INHABITS A PARTICULAR DISTRICT AND STATE AS A WHOLE BY MAKING IT QUITE COLOURFUL WITH ITS DIVERSE CULTURE, DISTINCT DIALECT AND TRADITIONS.

ONE CAN RIGHTLY CALLED TIRAP AS ONE OF THE BEST PLACE FOR KASIK CULTURE HOLIDAYS IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH.

NOCTE TRIBE HAS A UNIQUE POSITION BECAUSE THEY BELONGED TO SEVERAL ETHNIC COMMUNITIES AND SPEAKS DIFFERENT DIALECTS LIKE KASIK, OLLO, HAKHUN, PHONG ETC. ALTHOUGH DIFFERENT IN DIALECTS, CULTURE AND CUSTOMS. SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL NOCTE’S HAVE A COMMON PRACTICE OF FOLK SONGS DURING THE TIME OF FESTIVALS LIKE IN CHALO LOKU, KUNYING PAKU, RONGHUAN KUHWA AND MELO PAKU. INTERESTINGLY ALL ARE BEEN SUNG IN KASIK DIALECT WHICH ACTUALLY IS WIDELY SPOKEN IN PULLONG, TUPI AND NOKSA VILLAGES HAVING A RICH SOUND AND VOCABULARY. PULLONG A SMALL VILLAGE IN THE REGION IS LOCALLY AND ORIGINALLY NAMED AS ‘BOACHIM’. BOA MEANS ‘DANCE’ AND CHIM MEANS ‘SALT’. IT IS NAMED SO BECAUSE IT IS BELIEVED AND PROVEN TO BE THE FIRST PLACE WHERE SALT WAS FOUND AND THE FOLK DANCE OF THE REGION ORIGINATED.

KASIK MELO PAKU IS ONE OF THE MAJOR FESTIVALS OF KASIK COMMUNITY. THERE ARE MANY AGRICULTURAL, RELIGIOUS AND SOCIO-CULTURAL FESTIVALS WHERE PEOPLE DANCE, SING, PRAY, PAY GRATITUDE AND MAKE MERRY AS A COMMUNITY. THE FESTIVAL SEASONS ARE SIMPLY BEST TIME TO VISIT THIS CULTURAL RICH COMMUNITY HUB AS ONE HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DIVERSITY.

‘CHIMPHONG LAAMSAM’ IS THE OLD AGE CUSTOMS BEING PRACTISED AND FOLLOWED SINCE AGES. ETYMOLOGICALLY, ‘CHIM’ MEANS ‘SALT’, ‘PHONG’ MEANS ‘WELL’ AND ‘LAAMSAM’ MEANS ‘CLEARING THE WAY’, THUS GIVING OUT THE MEANING ‘CLEARING THE WAY OF THE SALT WELL’.

IT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE OBSERVED DURING THE MELO PAKU HELD IN THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER IN PULLONG VILLAGE.

‘POMI NOTHAN’ ARE THE YOUTH CHOSEN IN THE VILLAGE LEVEL BY THE HEAD OF THE POMI NOTHAN. THE TENURE FOR A BOY TO BE CALLED POMI NOTHAN IS UNTIL HIS MARRIAGE.

A MESSAGE REGARDING CHIMPHONG LAAMSAM IS PASSED ON IN EVERY HOUSEHOLD BY THE POMI NOTHAN ON THE EVE OF THE RITUAL.A LOG DRUM IS BEATEN EARLY IN THE MORNING BY THE POMI NOTHAN IN THE ‘POH’ (MORUNG) TO GIVE THE SIGNAL OF THE CHIMPHONG LAAMSAM, ONLY MALES ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE POH.

CHIMPHONG LAAMSAM IS HEADED BY THE VILLAGE ELDER’S AND ACCOMPANIED BY THE POMI NOTHAN. AFTER THAT, THE DATE FOR THE ‘MELO PAKU’ (FESTIVAL) IS DISCUSSED AND FIXED BY THE VILLAGE CHIEF ALONG WITH HIS MEN AT THE RESTING POINT OF THE CHIMPHONG LAAMSAM.

HENCE, THE FESTIVAL STARTS IN A FESTIVE MOOD BRINGING JOY IN THE LIPS OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL.

MELO PAKU MEANS PROSPERITY IN CULTIVATION OF PADDY DURING AUTUMN SEASON AND PAKU MEANS ENJOYMENT AND HAPPINESS. THUS, COMBINING THE TWO WORDS WE GET IT MELO PAKU AS A WHOLE WHICH LITERALLY MEANS FESTIVAL OF ENJOYMENT AND HAPPINESS AFTER PADDY CULTIVATION.

THIS FESTIVAL IS ALWAYS CELEBRATED DURING THE MONTH OF OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER. THUS, THE COMMUNITY OF KASIK CELEBRATE IT WITH THEIR EXTRAVAGANT ETHNICITY AND PERFORMS FOLK DANCES AND SINGING FOLK SONGS BY PAYING THEIR SINCERE THANKFULNESS TO ALMIGHTY KASHIAH HUABA THE GOD OF NATURE, FOR HIS TREMENDOUS BLESSINGS AND LOVE FOR THEM.

DURING THIS FESTIVAL, THE KASIK COMMUNITY DECORATED THEMSELVES WITH BEAUTIFUL CULTURAL AND RICH TRADITIONAL ATTIRES AND ALSO THROUGH THEIR OWN LOCAL HANDICRAFTS AND HANDLOOM ARTICLE ALONG WITH THE DISPLAYING OF THE VARIETY OF CULTURE AND TRADITION OF KASIK COMMUNITY, THEY ALSO WELCOMED AND WISHED ONE ANOTHER FOR THEIR FULL HAPPINESS IN THEIR LIFE.

FIRST DAY (YUU CHEE HAAN) WHICH MEANS OFFERING OF LOCAL RICE BEER JUICE. ON THIS PARTICULAR DAY, THEY OFFER YUU CHEE TO THEIR ELDERS, FAMILY MEMBERS, MATERNAL UNCLES AND GRANDPARENTS. SO THAT THEIR ELDERS MAY DO VON VOAN MEANS PRAYER TO ALMIGHTY KASHIAH HUABA BY OFFERING HIM THIS FOR THEIR SUCCESS AND LONG HAPPINESS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE LIFE. EVERY SINGLE PERSON VISITING EACH AND EVERY HOUSES ARE WARMLY WELCOMED BY OFFERING A GLASS OF SWEET YUU CHEE AND A PLATE CONTAINING DELICIOUS PORK , CHICKEN AND ROASTED BEEF.

SECOND DAY (LOI LANG KAKU PHAAKSHIA) WHICH MEANS SLAUGHTERING OF BUFFALO. FAMILY GRAND FEAST IS HELD WHERE A GROUP OF VILLAGERS SLAUGHTER BUFFALO, PIG, GOAT AND LOCAL CHICKEN FOR MEAT PURPOSE. AFTER THAT THEY PREPARE A VERY WARM DELICIOUS MEAL FOR A FAMILY FEAST AND THEN ALL THE FAMILY MEMBERS SIT IN A ROUND AND ENJOYS THE MEAL WITH SWEET WINE (OF YUU CHEE) ALONG WITH FULL EXCITEMENT BY SINGING AND DANCING. THAT TIME THEY SHARE THEIR VIEWS, HAPPINESS AND IDEAS RELATING TO THEIR LIFE.

THIRD DAY (MELO PAKU KASIK BUA NYI) MEANS AN AUSPICIOUS DAY OF THE FESTIVAL IN WHICH ALL VILLAGERS GATHER TOGETHER AT POH (MORUNG) A KIND OF TRADITIONAL BUILDING WHERE OUR ANCESTORS HAD BEEN KEEPING ALL THE CHOP OFF HEADS OF ENEMIES DURING THE TIME OF HEADHUNTING MANY CENTURIES BACK AND WHERE OUR FOREFATHER CELEBRATE THEIR VICTORY UNDER THE VILLAGE CHIEF. HERE VILLAGERS DRESSED UP IN THEIR BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED TRADITIONAL ATTIRES BEGINS TO SING FOLK SONGS AND FOLK DANCES RELATED TO MELO MELO PAKU KASIK BUA. THEN SLOWLY SHIFT TO FIELD WHICH AFTER SINGING AND DANCING FOR SEVERAL HOURS MOVE AGAIN TO THE HOUSE OF THE VILLAGE CHIEF AND ENJOY THERE THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT SINGING, DANCING AND LAUGHING.

FOURTH DAY (TOSAAM THHAY) MEANS A KIND OF TRADITIONAL DRY PICNIC OR A PARTY IS BEING CELEBRATED THAT DAY IN EACH AND EVERY HOUSES WHERE LOTS OF YOUTH, ELDERS AND FAMILY MEMBERS ENJOYED THE PARTY ACCORDINGLY SINGING AND DANCING WHOLE NIGHT IN THEIR OWN BEAUTIFUL CULTURAL WAYS AND IN THIS WAY, THE KASIK MELO PAKU ALWAYS HAS a HAPPY AND MEMORABLE ENDING.

LASTLY, I WOULD LIKE TO INFORM TO ALL THE EMERGING RESEARCH AND LINGUISTIC SCHOLARS OF THE COUNTRY THAT KASIK DIALECT HAS BEEN DECLARED AS ONE OF THE MOST ENDANGERED DIALECT AMONG VARIOUS LINGUISTIC GROUPS OF THE STATE AND PARTICULAR IN THE COUNTRY AND IT’S THE CONSTITUTIONAL BASIC RIGHT TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE THE CULTURE AS IT IS SAID THAT “LOSS OF CULTURE IS LOSS TO IDENTITY’’ THUS MY SINCERE APPEAL TO ALL IS TO HELP THE DIALECT RETAIN IN ITS ORIGINAL PEAK.

THEREFORE, IN ORDER TO REVIVE THE FAST DYING KASIK DIALECT I.E., PURELY CONNECTED WITH THE FOLK SONGS OF THE REGION NECESSARY REALIZATION SHOULD BE COMING OUT FROM EVERYONE’S HEART. THE GOVERNMENT IS TO APPEAL TO PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION IN THIS SERIOUS MATTER BY CREATING REVIVAL INSTITUTIONS HAVING REQUIRED NUMBER OF INSTRUCTORS WHO SHOULD BE SOUND KNOWLEDGE IN KASIK DIALECT.