Editor,
What evolved from a village-level celebration in the year 1975 is now recognised worldwide and celebrated as Si-Donyi Hilo to honour and seek blessings from Si (Earth) and Donyi (sun) for universal peace, prosperity and bountiful harvest not only for a particular community but for the entire human race. It is a vibrant annual festival of the Tagin community of Arunachal Pradesh, and the rituals are led by a ritually selected priest (nyubu) through chicken liver and egg tests. The priests invoke the divine spirits through ritual chanting of hymns, seeking their blessings.
The community’s feasting, colourful traditional attire, and display of folk dances (konyi-bokar, hoyi panam and bvgv kapnam) offer a majestic display of the tribe’s rich customs. In recent times, it has incorporated modern elements, such as sports competitions (badminton, volleyball, chess etc), fashion shows, and cultural evenings to make it relevant to contemporary society and to engage the youths.
But the debate over whether this is just merrymaking or ritualistically driven should be resolved by our understanding that Si-Donyi Hilo is fundamentally a sacred, ritualistic observance rooted in indigenous faith and has a deep connection with nature, its flora and fauna, and even non-living things.
The accompanying activities like selection of the head priest through chicken liver and egg tests to selection of the sacrificial mithuns, even their gender and colours, through egg and chicken liver tests, to the continuous ritualistic chanting of hymns for more than 10-15 days by the priest and his assistant, and the observance of ritualistic guidelines as advised by the head priest are actually expressions of joy and cultural pride derived from religious significance and serve the crucial function of preserving the community’s heritage and cultural identity.
In short, Si-Donyi Hilo is a ritualistic observance – one which provides the foundation for the entire celebration.
Swadharm nidhanam, shreyah pardharmo bhayaavah – a line from the ‘Bhagvad Gita’, says that it is far better to die in one’s own religion (indigenous faith) than to glorify and live in other foreign religions.
Gyamde Gumja Tamin