Sikpui Ruoi : The festival of festivals

Dr Immanuel Zarzosang Varte *

Sikpuiruoi : Hmar community's post harvest winter festival at RK Puram, New Delhi on December 8 2012 :: Pix - Lalremlien Neitham

There are innumerable festivals and ceremonies among the Kuki-Chin-Mizo tribes of North-east India. Of these, Sikpui Ruoi or Great Winter Festival (Sik= winter, Pui= Great, Ruoi= Feast, festival) is a festival of the Hmar community, the descendants of Nelachal, the youngest of Manmasi's three sons. No particular date for the festival is fixed.

It is celebrated at a convenient time as long as it falls during the winter and usually during the month of December (Mimtuk thla) or January (Tuolbuol thla). While the festival is usually celebrated for seven days, there are also times when it extends more than seven days and sometimes even a month. But usually, the celebration lasts for seven days.

Sikpui Ruoi is celebrated only in those years when a substantial quantity of last year's harvest is still in the granary even after the commencement of a new harvest season. Such a year is said to be a year of 'fapang ralinsan' or a year of abundance. In such case, young men and women take out the previous year's yield and winnow them two or three months ahead of Sikpui Ruoi. They then distribute the rice to every household in the village for brewing. This locally brewed drink is called Zu (Fermented rice beer). On the day of the festival, every family in the village would bring their share of zu to the venue to share, drink, eat together and make merry in wild abandonment.

With minimal religious linkage, the Sikpui Ruoi is in essence and spirit a celebration of nature's bountiful blessings, expression of the tribe's symbiotic relation with nature and the peoples' dependence on nature for sustenance. The Sikpui festival is also one of the those rare moments where everyone, rich or poor, young or old can take part and enjoy without any social inhibition or distinction.

The festival is also a time when the rich and powerful compete in magnanimosity and show unconditional kindness to the poor. Unlike other Hmar public-feasts, ceremonies and festivals, Sikpui Ruoi is not meant for individual's achievement nor glorification but signifies the general prosperity of the whole community and where everyone is given equal importance. This is what makes the festival an important cultural heritage, to be remembered and treasured for generations to come.

There are nine different Sikpui dances and the songs accompanying these dances are collectively known as Sikpui Hla. They are:
(1). Buontlaw Hla,
(2). Hlapui (Hla Ser),
(3). Hranthli Hla,
(4). Lamtluong Hla
(4). Saia Ketet lam Hla,
(5). Simsak Hla
(6). Tangkawngvailak Hla,
(7). Inran Hla
(8). Trinna Hla and
(9). Hla Vuina (Hla Phumna).

Of these, Sikpui Hlapui (Hla Ser) is considered the most sacred and the Sikpui dance cannot begin until this song is sung. Some lines from the first interpretation may be translated thus:

While we are preparing for the Sikpui feast,
The big red sea becomes divided.

As we are marching forward fighting our foes,
We are being led by a cloud during day;
And by pillar of fire during night.

Our enemies, ye folk are thick with fury,
Come out with your shields and spears.

Fighting our foes all day,
We march along as cloud-fire goes afore.

The enemies we fight all day,
The big sea swallowed them like beast.

Collect the quails,
Drink the water that gushes out of the rock.

The other name for Sikpui Ruoi is "Inremna Ruoi" which literally means "A feast of Peace". In the past, it was considered taboo to partake in the feast with a grudge against fellowmen. In case any person harboured a grudge or had enmity with anyone, he must first rid himself of all those ill-feelings before the Sikpui feast.

Thus, the feast brought a sense of harmony among all the people and it was this harmonious relationship that made the feast so unique. All the people used to join in the Sikpui dance, men and women placed alternately, holding each other's hands from the back, signifying their mutual acceptance and exhibited their exuberance and joy.

* Note: This article draws heavily from "Sikpui Ruoi (Sikpui Festival): A festival with a difference", jointly authored by Lal Dena and Zothangchhingi Khiangte.

** See a Photo Gallery page on Sikpui Ruoi