For generations, our ancestors recognized this transition not just as a change in the season, but as a divine moment to celebrate Mother Nature. The festivals we hold, the rhythms we beat, and the dances we perform during this time were born from this deep reverence; an expression of pure gratitude to the earth, the rain, and the life-giving forces that sustain us.
Yet, this profound connection to the sacred earth sits at the center of a painful chasm that has existed within indigenous communities between those who held fast to traditional ways and those who converted to Western religions. Historically, the rhetoric from converts and missionaries was merciless: traditional practices, beliefs, and worldviews were branded as "barbaric," "savage," and "demonic."
If you argued that they gave education, they bought education to spread their ideology, when the western Education was brought to India the goal as mentioned in the Macaulay's minute is to raise a group of "Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect." This will enable locals to engage with British officials and hence less resistance against the colonialists and this will enhance the plundering and looting in the country and fund the other exploitations by the British Empire. At the same time the practitioners of the old ways were ostracized, forced into hiding, or coerced into silence and their practices banned by using the infamous Section 144 of the IPC, such as the Pastieh in Raid Ialong or the Behdeinkhlam all over Jaintia Hills which led to the Jaintia Uprising.
Despite this onslaught, the Niamtre religion endured. It endured because a resilient minority refused to let the flame go out. They preserved the songs, the precise movements of the dances, and the timing of the festivals, recognizing that these were not mere social activities, but sacred duties to the ancestors and the Gods.
Now, a strange and unsettling phenomenon is occurring. The descendants of those who dismissed this heritage have encountered a crisis of identity. Having realized that they have not been, and perhaps never fully will be, absorbed into a completely westernized society, they are looking back toward their roots. But they are doing so selectively, and in a way that insults the very traditions they claim to embrace. They don't even know the meaning of Chadsukra, or Shad Suk Mynsiem,or Chad Pliang, or Chad Lahoo etc., or why these festivals are celebrated. Yes it's good and healthy to see our culture and identity grow but we are witnessing a convenient, intellectualized split between "religion" and "culture." These modern reinterpretations claim that the traditional dances and songs are merely "cultural expressions;" aesthetic performances that can be separated from their spiritual origins. They look at a dance meant to praise Mother Earth, to appease the God of Rain, to invoke the spirit of Fire, or to ensure Fertility, and they audaciously claim: "This is just culture, it is not religious."
This is a theological lie. In the indigenous worldview, there is no separation between the sacred and the secular. The dance is the prayer. The song is about theology. When you move your body in the rhythm prescribed by the ancestors before you sow, you are engaging in a religious act honouring the Gods for rain and water for a plentiful harvest. To strip the deity from the dance is to leave it an empty shell.
Even more egregious is the increasing trend of performing these traditionally religious songs and dances within Church settings. It is a breathtaking display of double standards. It is a known reality that many church denominations strictly police these boundaries, issuing penalties or entirely cutting off members who dare to participate in authentic indigenous practices(shah ot balang). They draw a hard, punitive line to keep their followers away from the traditional religion, yet simultaneously copy and paste the aesthetics of our dances into their own sanctuaries. They are taking what is valuable, sacred, and true to us, and diluting it until it becomes bare entertainment for an audience that does not understand its depth and also they cannot dance properly as we have witnessed in the past year when they mimicked Shad Suk Mynsiem in Shad Paskha. Their dances were all chaotic while doing a dance which was meant to be uniform and rhythmic or performing the Chad Pliang or Plate dance with paper plates and black tape to stick the plate which is too pathetic to look at.
To be clear, pointing this out is not an attack on Christian beliefs. Rather, it is a necessary defense of authenticity and a strict call to respect originality. The question must be asked of those who seek this partial reclamation: Why do you desire only the aesthetic, and not the essence?
If you truly want to accept your roots, accept them fully. Do not selective-sample our heritage. You cannot love the dance and despise the God to whom the dance is dedicated. You cannot embrace the ancestor-given rhythm while turning your back on the ancestor-given faith. To attempt to do so is an act of spiritual appropriation and intellectual dishonesty.
Instead of settling for a copied, sanitized version, here is an open invitation: Come and witness the original.Experience the true essence of Chad Sukra or Shad Suk Mynsiem in April or the Behdeinkhlam in July. Come see these sacred festivals conducted properly by our Elders of Niamtre, the rightful custodians of our faith and heritage. Experience the profound depth of the rituals as they were meant to be practiced, rather than a diluted performance for entertainment..
The missionaries and the colonizers have long since departed. I know if we are still under British Rule by now nobody would care about our culture; everyone would follow the Western culture and by hook or by crook they will try to erase the ancestor given culture and faith. The era of forced assimilation is over, and there is absolutely no need to fear embracing your roots in their purest form. The traditional songs and dances are not a costume department from which one can pick and choose items to wear when one feels an identity crisis. It is a cohesive, living system that survived centuries of persecution. There are many aspects that constitute a culture such as food, dresses, language etc. but dances and songs are the faces of a culture and identity, these songs and dances are religious and social in nature and by any means you should not separate and draw a line between religion and culture, Preserve the sanctity, respect and understand its value, or leave it alone.
These festivals are in every length and breadth of Niamtre or Niam Khasi hence you can't separate them from culture. Or let me ask you a question, Is the Church slowly transforming Christianity to the religion they once considered as "Savage and Barbaric?"
Anyway, just as nature awakens from the dead of winter, so too does our history, and so do our lives.I really appreciate the Seng Khasi and the Seiñ Raij for preserving our Culture and Faith and we have seen how it blooms in the light of hope and growth. Let this season of renewal be an awakening to the unbroken truth of our heritage. With a thousand prayers, I wish you all a very happy Chad Sukra Festival and Shad Suk Mynsiem, and may the Gods bless you, our land, and our people.
Yours etc.,
O. Lyngdoh,
Via email