Changlang reverberates to Moh Mol fest

CHANGLANG (Arunachal Pradesh), April 29 : Of the several festivals observed by the Tangsa community, Moh Mol is the biggest and most colourful of them all. It is also the festival which is celebrated with gusto by all the 16 sub-tribes of the Tangsa community. Moh Mol is the equivalent of the Rongali Bihu celebrations of Assam, as the Tangsa community begins their new year with the celebrations. The only difference here is that Assam goes into Rongali mood on April 14, while Moh Mol gets under way 11 days later and the festivities continue for a full week. The Tangsa community celebrates Moh Mol soon after completing sowing of paddy and millet and the celebrations begin with a religious ritual where each family bids a final farewell to the departed souls in the family who died in the past 12 months. This is done by offering food, meat, drinks in the names of the departed souls, while also making sacrifices of pigs, cow or buffalo. All for the eternal peace of the departed soul as well for the family's ancestors.

On April 25, the entire township of Changlang was in a festive mood. The three leaders of the Tangsa community, Tangu Memu, T Taiju and P Khimhun made sure that the preparations were immaculate to the last detail. Memu is a former minister of Arunachal, while Taiju is currently Arunachal's minister of State for Irrigation and Flood Control. The youthful Khimhun is a first timer in the Arunachal Assembly: he is the MLA of Changlang South (Taiju represents the Changlang North constituency). Helping these three politicians in the preparations was the Deputy Commissioner of the Changlang district, Talem Tapok. On Thursday, all roads in Changlang led to the public ground here. At the centre was a 50-feet tall bamboo mast. From this post, buntings were laid out to the four corners of the field, lending a colour to the festivities. On the ground, the Tangsa dance troupes were all clad in their traditional finery, which included body laces tied to hundreds of antique coins, and traditional ornaments, made from animal fur and bird feathers, among other things.

The Assam Tribune was informed that the antique coins used in the ornaments dates back to the 1880s. With these coins now no longer in circulation, collection of these have become expensive. For example, a one rupee silver coin is priced as much as Rs 150. At the festival ground, the chief guest of the Moh Mol festivities this year was the Assam minister of State for home, Pradyut Bordoloi. He has become almost indispensable for the tribal societies of the Changlang district. Just two months ago, he was accorded similar status at the Shapong Yang Manao Poi festival of the Singpho community, held at Bordumsa. After the Dehing Patkai festival at Lekhapani in January this year, Bordoloi has managed to endear himself to the tribal society of Arunachal Pradesh. As chief guest, he performed the inaugural puja by offering rice beer at the specially built puja place at a corner of the festival ground here. This was followed by the unfurling of the festival flag. He spoke at length of the need for much greater social interchange among the communities of the northeast, while appreciating the need for traditional festivals to keep alive custom.

As the drums were played by the Tangsa youth, to the accompaniment of gongs, attractively attired Tangsa damsels performed their traditional dance, which is an elegant movement of body in geometric designs. The Tangsa dance forms emulate birds in flight, and is not like the hip swaying orgies normally seen in the Assamese Bihu dances. As in any other north-eastern tribal culture, there is no sexual discrimination in the Tangsa society and the dance forms are a testimony to this. A major ritual of the Moh Mol festivities is the thanksgiving offered to the presiding deity of the community, Rang Frah, followed by obeisance to the deities of wealth and crop.

According to traditional wisdom, Moh Mol is an occasion for dancing, singing and merry-making. Like in the husorie of Assam's Rongali Bihu, groups of youth go from house to house in the villages, dancing, singing and consuming gallons of rice beer. But no drunken brawl has ever been reported within the community, as drinking is just to have a good time in anticipation of well being and a bountiful crop. All the songs sung as part of Moh Mol are folksongs. This is also the medium by which the elders pass on the community's history to the younger generation. Till now, there is very little documented history about the Tangsas. An effort is being made towards this by the local Tangsa Culture & Literary Society, an NGO headed by Khongpong Tangha. This year's Moh Mol festival is the sixth such to be held so far, informs K Mamai, district statistical officer here. He said the Moh Mol central festival here is an attempt to preserve the Tangsa cultural heritage. Given the richness of the tradition and culture of the Tangsas, the effort needs to be supplemented by greater state patronage. As of now, tradition has been well preserved.