Wanchuwa festival of Tiwa Tribe

Context

Tiwa tribesmen took part in a dance during the Wanchuwa festival in Karbi Anglong district of Assam. 

Wanchuwa festival

• Wanchuwa is one of the most important festivals of the Tiwa tribal community, celebrated to mark their good harvest.
• It comes with songs, dances, a bunch of rituals and people clad in their native attires.
• The people of Tiwa tribe associate the bountiful harvest with the higher power from nature. This takes the form of pigs' skulls and bones which act as deities and are preserved through many generations.
• People do plenty of make up in the form of paste made of rice powder. They participate in dance with this makeup.
• With bamboo sticks in hand, the people proceed to rhythmically beat the rice powder, and occasionally pause to move around the circle.

About Tiwa Tribe

• Tiwa also known as Lalung is indigenous community.
• They are recognized as a Scheduled tribe within the state of Assam. 
• States:  Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
• Sub-groups: They are divided into 2 sub-groups- Hill Tiwa and Plains Tiwa which have contrasting cultural features:
  • Language: They speak a Tibeto-Burman language. 
  • Religion: One-half of them follow their traditional religion. It is based on the worship of local deities. The other half has been converted to Christianity since the 1950s.
  • Language: The vast majority speak Assamese as their mother tongue. Their descent system is patrilineal. 
  • Religion: Their religion shares many elements with Assamese Hinduism but remains specific.
• Hill Tiwa: They live in the westernmost areas of Karbi Anglong district. 
• Plains Tiwa: They live on the flatlands of the Southern bank of the Brahmaputra valley. 

Festivals: The main festivals of the Tiwa tribes are: Three Pisu (Bihu), Borot utsav, Sogra phuja, Wanchuwa, Jonbeel Mela, Kabla, Langkhon Phuja and Yangli Phuja.