Singpho Manau Dance Festival Begins in Arunachal

Itanagar, Feb 15 : Singpho in hundreds attended the opening ceremony of the 26th Manau Dance Festival in Bordumsa town, Arunachal Pradesh state, Northeast India yesterday.

Kachins in Burma and the Singpho tribe in India belong to the same ethnic community. They began celebrating the biggest cultural festival of the ethnic people at 9 a.m. on February 13. It will continue till February 15, said a Manau Committee member.

During the opening programme, short speeches were delivered by the Chief of Singpho in India, Nbawn Pisa Lat Nawng, Minister C.C. Singpho and the tribal leaders of the Changlang district in the state.

“If there is no language and culture then the nation will disappear,” said Nbawn Pisa, Chief of Singpho in his speech explaining why Manau festival was important and how meaningful it was for the tribe.

Ethnic Kachin people in India have been holding the Manau Dance Festival since 1985 in their territory. Last year was the silver jubilee of the cultural events, said elders in the state.

Shahkyet La Hkum the senior most person in the Singpho tribe in the district and the cultural leader who is 82 years old, told Kachin News Group, that the Manau dance is the most important cultural heritage for holding on to the beauty and value of the tradition of Singpho.

“It includes a lot of our cultural symbol. If the Manau festival stops then our tradition and culture will disappear and so will our language,” said La Hkum.

The dusty road to Bordumsa till the middle of the town, reveals the district is far behind other parts of the country, especially compared to urban places such as Guwahati the capital of Assam State, contiguous to Arunachal Pradesh.

“It is terrible and unbelievable. The road and the place are just not like India,” said a participant who came from New Delhi, the capital of India.
La Hkum was missing out on the beauty of Kachin State in Burma, after he departed from the State a long time ago. He still remembers the call of the birds and the natural beauty of the State.

He was sorely disappointed when he heard about the deforestation and destruction of the natural resources in Kachin State. “I really miss the bird (Chyangau U in Kachin language) song,” he said.

He was sad because of the difficulties in communication between the Kachin people from two countries – Burma and India. It is also difficult to pass the border gate, “They (Burmese and Indian authorities) do not allow us to go to Kachin State,” said La Hkum.

About the situation of the tribe in the two countries, the Singpho in India can express their identity by celebrating the Manau festival without any disturbance and restrictions from the authorities.  There is a big difference in Kachin State in Burma where people are under the control of the Burmese military regime where they lack cultural, religious political and economic freedom.

“Welcome to everybody and thanks for joining the festival. We should continue to celebrate the Manau dance festival,” said C.C. Singpho, Arunachal Pradesh Government's Minister for Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Health and Family Welfare said in his short speech.

On the opening day, hundreds of participants including over 30 Kachins from Burma danced the Manau dance twice from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.