LSBT to organise Mera Thabum celebration
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, September 20 2022:
Lainingthou Sanamahi Temple Board (LSBT) would be organising Mera Thabum celebration starting from Mera Chaorel Houba day by offering prayer to Ima Leimarel Sidabi and Lainingthou Sanamahi along with different activities.
Informing this during a press meet held at LSBT office located at Haying Khongbal Ufong Yumfam here on Tuesday, LSBT member secretary Maisnam Shivdutta Luwang said that the board is organising the celebration as Mera is considered a holy month by both hill and valley dwellers.
The Mera Chaorel Houba, which will mark inauguration of the celebration, will be held on September 26, the first day of lunar month Mera, at 8 am along with a religious procession and collecting holy water from Nungjeng Ikon (Pukhri) located inside Kangla.
A mass prayer for the welfare and prosperity of the whole state will be conducted on October 3.During the month-long celebration, different cultural, folk and religious activities will be organised for which interested parties can contact the board on or before October 2.He informed that during the celebration, LSBT will inaugurate a building called 'Sanagee Ningshing Shang-gai' in memory of King Kullachandra, who inaugurated the temple on April 26, 1891, former chief minister Yangmasho Shaiza; who enacted Lainingthou Sanamahi Temple Board Act and took up initiatives to promote the indigenous religion, Heisnam Kumar of Heingang and Oinam Chaoba of Oinam, who sacrificed their lives in the movement to protect the temple, and those who spent jail time during the movement.
From the full moon day of Mera, which is celebrated as Mera Wayungba, there will be Mera Lairik Taba (narrative art form) daily till the end of the lunar month, during which renowned narrative artistes of the state will perform.
A 15-day workshop cum certificate course on all religious rituals of Sanamahi believers from birth to death will be conducted in coordination with Manipur University of Culture.
There will be oath taking ceremonies for new functionaries of newly constituted Piba Loishang and Ningol Loishang, he said, while calling for public support towards making the celebration a grand success.