II. KUT Festival:
The people now inhabiting Mizoram, the tribes in the Hill areas of Manipur other than the Naga dominant areas, the Kukis of Nagaland, Assam, Tripura and Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and the people in the Chin State of Myanmar are the tribes who have been professing observance of various kinds of Kut Festivals from time immemorial.
They all practice Jhum cultivation as the mainstay of economy, growing, Millet, Maize, Sesamum, Job’s ear, Cucumber, Pumpkins, etc, etc, as their staple foods prior to their entry into Myanmar from China. These groups of people were said to have taken to rice cultivation only after their entry into Myanmar.
Such contentions cannot, however, be substantiated as to the truth of the claims. These are more of legends than of historical facts. They are of conjectural work. In fact, their hoary past is shrouded in mystery. Nevertheless, the fact remains that these people have been observing Kut Festivals for generations.
These people commonly claim to have come “out of the bowels of the earth, a cave called Chhinlung or Sinlung or Khul, believed to be in China”. One of the authorities on the Kukis, Shakespear, in his book on “The Lushai Kuki Clan” said that they were of many clans, each speaking different dialect and scattering over an area of 25,000 square miles.
The then Governor of Assam, Robert Reid, in his book on “History of the Frontier Areas Bordering on Assam” said that these people who claimed to have come out of the bowels of the earth speak dialects of the same language”. Similarly, Grierson, a linguist, said that they belonged to the Tibeto-Kuki sub-linguistic group in his book on “Linguistic Survey of India”.
Origin: During the olden days, the people who observed Kut festivals were not aware of the existence of the great religions of the world, such as, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., etc. Thus as were true in all cases of other primitive societies, these groups of people were either atheists, or professed ancestral worshippers (animists) or naturists.
In any form of these worships, certain objects as sources of life and of other worldly nature were attributed. Their belief was, therefore, associated either with animate or inanimate objects as the sources of all powers that gave life to mankind with abundance of blessings if particular aspect of life was made subservient to it.
Likewise, when the said supernatural object was believed not satisfied or was displeased, all sorts of evil fortunes were attributed to it. With this end in view, the people worshipped the objects with certain prescribed rituals in propitiation as prescribed by the customary laws.
In order to appease not to harm mankind or to praise such objects for the blessings received, propitiation of supposed supernatural objects for the benefit and welfare of the community was performed by a socially acceptable person to intercede between the people and the objects attributed as supernatural. Such person to officiate performance of the rituals was considered ‘holy man’ called ‘village priest’.
Such activities that interceded between the supernatural object and the society being of collective welfare in nature, observance of certain occasions as Kuts and the rituals associated therewith were essentially of community in nature.
Rites and rituals give strong elements of ethnic affinity and influence on their social cohesion and solidarity. It also symbolizes the integrating force among the community, cutting across tribal boundaries and linguistic differences.
Thus, observance of different kinds of Kut originated from the worship of various objects considered as supernatural associated with good and evil attributes of life.
Concept: Radcliffe Brown and Emille Dirkheim said that the principal function of communal rituals was to emphasise and to reaffirm the sentiments of collective loyalty. The purpose of such festive function was to create a sense of identity and social solidarity reinforced by the performance of communal rituals which expressed social content and behaviour of a group. This is an essential lifestyle in egalitarian society.
The means of subsistence of the people who observed Kut festivals was agricultural products. Annual communal feasts manifested the type of economy being pursued by the society. The glaring fact that lacked the concept of saving in their economic system could be observed from the practice of conspicuous consumption through the various Kuts in festivity and communal rituals in propitiation to the deities of Kuts.
Also, an important aspect that associated inseparably with Kut festivals was religiosity of the occasions that stemmed from obeisance and incantation to the creator of all things which preceded the celebration.
Kut festival is in thanks giving to the almighty creator of the Universe who is believed to have blessed the people through the deities of various crops cultivated. There might have, therefore, been many Kuts celebrated in the olden days of variegated and seasonal ones.
However, there are some Kut festivals common to all tribes. They are
- Mim Kut (Job’s ear);
- Chavang Kut (paddy);
- Pawl Kut (Gourd harvest);
- Thai or Thak Lop (crops).
Hence, as the names suggest, Kut observance is invariably done with the arrival of the new crops or after harvesting as the case may be.
The basic concept behind such observance is, therefore, that the toiling community has to have a short respite and recreation after the year’s work has been reaped and before the new-year’s work is begun. It is also an occasion when the village community praise God for the blessings bestowed upon them.
The religious rites that precede the Kut celebration are officiated by the ‘holy-man’ called, ‘Village Priest’, who intercedes for the villagers to the deities of the Kuts concerned.
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to be continued ..
* Priyadarshni M Gangte wrote this article for The Sangai Express .
This article was webcasted on November 29 , 2007 .
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