7
MUSICAL COURIER
March 29, 1923
Tripping the Light Fantastic.
new Siem and the people have a great Puja and ceremonies of sacrifice, offerings, dancing and singing.
The dance is performed by the Khasi girls, and the feasting lasts a day and night. The last ceremony takes place at the funeral pyre, and the girls and men dance around the stone platform, where the pickled, or preserved, body of the old Siem slowly burns and the people chant the “Passing” song, have fireworks and fire a salute of arrows into the air. When the uncalcined bones and ashes of the deceased are gathered and removed to the cairn, there are further ceremonies of sacrificing and offerings; this time to the spirits of the dead.
There is another special dance performed at night by women, with flute and drum. This ceremony lasts for nine days, and is part of the ancestor worship which is such an important element in the Khasi’s life. This ceremony is called the “Lympung,” and is the third ceremony attending death. Nor is this all; there are stone memorials set up to the dead, and this applies to any of the clan, as they all must pass through the same ceremonial forms and vary only in their elaborateness. There is a special occasion, called the “Behtympew,” on the night before depositing the bones in the clan cairn, and is supposed to drive away the evil spirits of devils, so that they will not disturb the last rest of the bones in the home before they are taken away. Lastly the bones are placed in the ossuary and a dance, this time executed by the males, with sword and shield, takes place, before the sepulchre, and finally the poor bones are allowed to rest and the death ceremony is ended. •
KHASI MIXED DANCE
Besides the death dances there are several others of special note, the principal one being the Nongkrem Dance at the great Khasi Festival. This dance is performed on the same occasion as the goat-killing ceremony, in which the Siem participates conspicuously. The festival is usually held at Smit in the spring of the year, about May. There are days of pujas which finally crystallize in the goat-cock sacrifice by the Siem. Then twenty men do a dance before the altar in honor of the goddess Ka Blei Synshar, who is the deity of the crops and grain; so she is importuned for a lucky season for the farmers.
The priest and priestess do a special dance of their own, then the girls and men do a dance together, chanting in unison as a rule. All of the dances resemble the folk type of an average peasant dance, only in the case of the Khasis, the steps are nox so rapid. There is an awkward dignity about all their dances that amuses the spectator while he wonders what feeling animates these people that makes them take themselves and the spirit of music and the dance so seriously.
If any of you have ever seen a Lama Dance or a Tibetan Dance you will understand the grotesque awkwardness of these folk dances. They take one step at a time, gyrate around stiffly, jump and skip and a hop, and have movements that resemble a person trying to walk fast in the water, spraddling about as a diver does in an ungainly and weird fashion.
Fine Feathers.
There is the beat of drum, shrill of pipe and clash of cymbal to add a barbaric touch, and this is further augmented and accented by the gorgeous costumes of the dancers. The illustrations will show the style of dress worn by men and women; but you will have to imagine the riot of color shining in the sunlight of the outdoor dance. The girls are dressed in- rich si'ks and brocades of bright, hues, peacock blues, rose, yellow, green or purple, and they are covered with jewelry of gold and silver, and coral beads. On their heads they ' (Continued on page 46)
(Sharati) and slow beat of drums, whose quality of woodenness give them a dull hollow sound.
A Pickled Raja.
When a Siem, or Khasi Raja, dies, his body is pickled in spirits and lime juice, and kept until the natives can scrape
KHASI GIRLS DANCING
up enough money to afford the intricate and extravagant ceremonies demanded by their tribal custom. When the mummy is finally burned, sometimes several years later, the
who introduced it into Assam, unless it was the wandering Jew.
We may sneer at the small number of instruments among these folk, but I assure you that what they lack in quantity they make up in volume, for they• dearly love the clang of gong, and raucous blast of brazen horn and boom of drum, and the thin whine of the oboe cuts the air like a thread through butter.
There is noise enough and to spare, but we love it, because it “belongs,” just as the pines and the swift rocky streams belong to the hills, just as the clouds belong to the height, and the wild flower to forest. There is all nature to catch the sound and carry it through the mountains and valleys on the still night air, and the throb of the drum alone is enough to transport one to the realms of fancy and fantasy.
Going Up!
On the top of Shillong Peak, the highest mountain in the district, the mountain deity is supposed to dwell, and it is here that the religious ceremonies take place on special occasions. 'When the old clan-priest, or Lyngdoh, dies, and his successor is appointed, members of the clan climb the mountain path, singing and dancing the special tribal songs and steps for the inaugural occasion. All the people wear a distinctive dress, which the accompanying photographs show.
When the villagers reach the Peak, they perform the ceremony of sacrificing a cock and a goat under the sacred Ka’la phiah tree. The victims are offered to the various gods and in particular the god of the peak. Then when the elaborate ceremonials are completed, and the puja finished, the company retires with a new priest of the clan, and they go down the mountain with song and dancing steps, as they came up.
On another occasion of puja (worship) is performed in honor of U’lei lyngdoh, the village tutelary deity. The priest and people have a specially interesting dance at this time. Armed with sword and shield, and a quiver of arrows, decorated with plumed cock feathers and goat hair, they go through the measures of the dance, taking sides and advancing and retreating in rhythmic steps to the music. This dance is said to be a survival of the old Khasis war dance of which Mohamed Cazim in 1778 wrote the following: “When any one of them send word that he has cut off the head of an enemy, the people of his family, whatever be their age or sex, express great delight, making caps and ornaments of red and black ropes; then filling some large vessel with fermented liquors, and decking themselves with all the trinkets they possess, they go forth to meet the conqueror blowing large shells (the conch trumpet) and striking plates of metal, with other rude instruments of music.
“When both parties are met, they show extravagant joy, men and women dancing and singing together; and having piled the heads of their enemies in the courtyard of the chieftain’s house, they sing and dance round the pile.”
In the days before the English occupation, the war dance of the clan before and after a _ skirmish with an enemy clan, was a very important occasion. The god of war, U Syngkai Bamon, was propitiated with the sacrifice of a cock and the men danced around the altar, upon which they had placed offerings of a bow and arrow, a sword and shield, the pan-leaves, dearly beloved of the Indian, and the feathers of a coque noir.
The death ceremonies are significant and are performed according to the old customs of the Khasis, which have remained unchanged through the centuries. After all the elaborate services to the dead are performed the funeral cortege starts on its way, accompanied by the wailing flute
KHASI BAZAAR