Rel Kahoi : A festival of the Kharam tribe
- Part 1 -

Lempu Rangla aka Ted Mosby *

A cultural dance show of the Kharam Tribe :: File Pix

Kharam tribe celebrates different festivals in relation with different occasion. And even today though most of its people have been converted to Christian it still celebrate most of them though in a modified version. And among all those fest Rel Kahoi which is believe to be the grandest of all, and which has not been celebrated since many decades nay a generation to be precise is to be celebrated next year.

So in this article of mine I would like to highlight how was it actually celebrated. The word Rel has no actual meaning but rather it is a kind of a Passover celebrated after the election of the new chief, or if the chief happens to be a well to do person he can also initiate a proposal before the village council also collectively known as kataar provided they deemed him fit to host the fest.

Khullakpa who is the head of the village will assess the quantity of grains available in each household and along with the assistance of the kataar member will fixed a year which usually falls within a span of 3-4 years. And during these years the village council will assess the products procure by each family and see whether it will be sufficient enough to feed the family member and yes surplus also needs to be kept for outsider visitor which can't be rule out.

And tug of war match between the kataar's member and rothar-nungak is also held each year before the D-Day's year. In this tug of war match in case the Kataar's member lose the match then it is considered to be a bad omen and it is make sure that the Kataar's member won. In case the kataar lose the match and considered it to be dangerous to take the risk then they may postpone the fest. Provided everything is in place then final announcement is made to each and every member.

Sometime it is quite interesting to see why do they need 3 whole years just to celebrate and do merry making for just five days??? The reasons is obvious, it was celebrated those days when there is no market unlike today where you can get ready made materials even if you are willing to pay, so all the members will have to make their own clothing,(weaving and spinning manually) rear animals for the fest, and yes collect food which will sustain them during the whole fest.

Rel kahoi lasted for 5 days and on each day different activities are performed. So in order to see whether the fest will be a success or not a tug of war match between the Kataar's member and Nungak-Rothar(unmarried male and female who have attained puberty) will be held again, and if a stranger happens to visit the village during that period of time they will have to join the Kataar's side. And the whole population is divided into four main groups each to be headed by one leader namely Lapu Laamrang, Lapi Lamraang, Len Reng, Nungak Upa, Rothar Upa.

And each of them have to contribute a pig of 5 wais. Two Khongpu(incharge of the drum) will be selected and they will be incharge of the drum during the whole fest, they will be given a share of Yu mathak (local rice beer) of one shatak raki (yak's horn) each. And Loipu will also be chosen. During the whole years all the lapunai, kalen nai, lomtang nai and kataar member will sing song in each of the Tongtum Family(who have their own pipe, and are member of the kataar/village council), they will wear a turban on their head and when they came singing to each house the wife of the said household will present them a piece of cotton on their forehead, and if they happen to go every day without fail at the end of the year they succeeded in collecting a cotton which is sufficient to make a new turban and it is wore with pride during the said festival.

On the D-Day of the first day of the fest, in the morning the kataar's member will served drinks at laamtol which is the place of gathering for everyone. Shaichal's priest will cleansed or dedicate the laamtol reciting Sharchungnung Doi(rite) using a bark each from (a) kanteer (b) jaijou (c) tumber (d) longsar. And provoke the deities to protect the whole population from problems that may arise during the fest, and after he is done, Lapu laamrang, Lapi Laamrang follow suit but here both Lapu Laamrang and Lapi Laamrang will instead ask protection from their predecessors laamrangs to give them good health and also gives them knowledge and understanding so that they may be able to provide a good laamrang's guidance to their fellow group.

After this is done in each of the household that will host the kataar's member(len reng usually done at the chief's home), lapu laamrang, lapi laamrang, Nungak upa,and Rothar Upa a pig of 5 wais each will be killed and the meat will be collected. Here observing the spleen to predict the future of each group is also strictly followed. Now Khongpu( drummer) who has been specially chosen will be called and five types of drumming will be followed namely (a) Sesol kathingna (b) Ralchangkhong (c) Rengroikhong (d) Tanbingkhong (e) Kholorkhong where each of this drums has different meaning and are different in the way they are drums and each can be used only at special occasion as to say Kholorkhong is used when a new village is dedicated and Rengroikhong is for the time when a king is carried using palanquin etc(when he is felicitated, like he is celebrating feast of merits etc).

After this is done then leads by two Khongpu in front, Kalen nai, lomtang nai, lapu nai, lapi nai etc will bring Khullakpa to laamtol by carrying him in a palanquin followed by cheering and applause for the Khullakpa's success and ho ho by the carriers. The chief will then be made to sit on bertei made on the tree and during this whole while the chief is not allowed to go even for nature's call unless the celebration for the day is over, but yes he used other option. Once again tug of war will be first official event of the day which is considered to be grandest of all treat of the day, and in this case even if it is not a draw tang ulen( a man chosen by the kataar member) will cut the rope in the middle to make the match more interesting.

And it cut all of a sudden when both the team are in full swing of pulling the other team, both the team end up falling in the ground and the crowd loved it. After this Langal(la khulok) which means a song means just for fun and nungak upa and rothar upa who are the eldest of male and female unmarried group will do the honours to start the song wherein vulgar/obscene and catchy words are used but it is rather encourage because everyone knows it is just for fun.

Before sunset all the meats will be collected and brought to laamtol where it will be equally distributed among various groups and this meat will be taken and prepared at the house of the leader of the group namely Len Reng (usually done at the chief's place) lapu laamrang, lapi laamrang, nungak upa, rothar upa and here theiser khet yoo(rice beers) which will be served three time namely apangak, arang, achong base on their time of extraction from the rice beers pot, because the beers extracted at the first place is far better than the second and the third.

Then the chief will be brought down from bertei and he will be dropped at his home(on Palanquin), by the time this is done each member will go to their respective leader's place and enjoy the meat and drinks they have prepared. And at the leader's home, celebration will follow like singing, dancing, merry making etc etc the whole night, this will mark the end of the first day but officially after the chief is brought down from bertei, it is assume that the first day is over. Cause when it comes to celebration at the leader's place no strict rule is imposed, and there is no official schedule.

To be continued....