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ldquo

CHAPCHAR KUT- A FESTIVAL OF

HAPPINESS

ldquo Mangjangam Touthang

ldquo Come the month of March and spring be-

gins its play of colours with the Nature around

This splash of colours heralds the festive mood in

the lives of Mizos and they prepare themselves to

celebrate Chapchar Kut the festival of happiness

It is considered to be the most important traditional

festival of Mizoram and is celebrated with great

pomp and splendour

ldquo The Mizos traditionally have three main

festivals namely- Mim Kut Pawl Kut and Chap-

char Kut

ldquo Origin

ldquo In the Mizo history around 1450-1700 AD

a Kawlni chief ruled over a village called Suapui

which was located within the territory of Myan-

mar In those days the highest aspiration of every

young man was to excel in the feat of strength

skill or bravery in the eld or in hunting or even in

sports Often the chief or his son led youngmen

to the village to war or to hunting expeditions The

villagers anxiously awaited the successful return

of the hunting teams for whom a special meat and

Zu (rice beer) were unusually prepared by them It

was followed by great rejoicing by the whole village

ldquo As the legend goes one ne spring mor -

ning the chief of Suapui led his village braves to

a hunting expedition into a deep forest full of wildanimals The hunting expedition took several days

The villagers waited for the successful return of

their warriors Their biggest pots full of locally

made rice beer used to be ready to welcome the

intrepid hunters returning with their booty The vil-

lage maidens were even more anxious becausethey would then make ear rings hair combs from

the hones and teeth of the catches they would be

bringing home

ldquo But unfortunately the chief and his braves

were not blessed by Chawngtinleri (the guardian

queen of the beasts) and that made them return

to village empty-handed to the deep despair of

the welcome party Understanding the shame and

disappointment of his braves the chief instantly

proposed an impromptu festival - made up withdrinking beer and feast to lighten the gloomy mood

of his braves He himself showed up with a fat pig

and a big rice beer pot asking each of his hunting

mates to contribute fowls and beer pots

ldquo A feast was thus prepared with meat aplen-

ty and rice beer owing The village folks were also

requested to join the feast The spirits then went

high and the mood changed from disappointment

to merry making young men and women joined

hands and danced in circle singing and clapping

their hands all the while

ldquo So the entire community enjoyed even

more than they would have done had the hunters

come back with rich booty They would turn defeat

into victory as it were and so all the folks joined in

singing dancing and merry making Seeing the

happy singing and delighted folks the Suapui vil-

lage chief thought that it should be repeated every

year at the same time This gave birth to the most

loved Mizo festival known as Chapchar Kut The

delightful dance called Chai also found its origin

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ldquo Celebration

ldquo In course of time Chapchar Kut began

to be celebrated in all the Mizo villages beco-

ming a very important cultural tradition in the

society Each village developed its own brand

of celebration to suit its own time idiom and

ethos over the years The celebrations carried

on for four to ve days

ldquo On the rst day pigs were killed late in the

day for feasting and on the next morning village

elders including women spent the day drinking

beer while young boys and girls were busy making

preparations for singing and dancing Old women

used to carry cooked food and boiled eggs to feed

the passers by at the entrance of the village usually

under a banyan tree or near memorial stones

ldquo The third day of Chapchar Kut festival is

also termed as Chai Ni (dancing day) Young menand women dressed themselves in their best or-

naments-necklace of amber earrings of ivory and

beautiful headband made of ne feathers Boys

and girls sang and danced all through the night

forming circles in the chiefrsquos yard

ldquo The fourth day is called Zupui Ni (Zupui

is a mild beer brewed with husks specially made

for festive and special days) Zupui contributed by

various families was passed around the whole

day Towards the evening songs and dances got

underway again lasting till the next morning

ldquo The fth day was solemnized as Zu Thing

Chaw Ni On this day all the contributed and col-

lected Zu was to be nished The sixth day used

to be the day of siesta Having fed themselves

with meat and drinks to the brim they called it a

day of rest Hunting or going out of the village was

considered a taboo

ldquo The longest Chapchar Kut celebration in

Mizo history was of the Chawngtui village It wenton so long that the entire village forgot its culti-

vation This resulted in famine and the villagers

dispersed to the neighboring villages

ldquo These days the practice of mass feas-

ting drinking of locally-made beer and dancing

throughout the night has died down Now arrange-

ments are made for presenting traditional dances

of the Mizos Colourful parading of different clans

with their traditional proceedings almost parallels

the Christian way of life

ldquo Due to the efforts of worthy individuals

organizations and the State government Chap-

char Kut has now become the most popular and

colourful cultural festival of Mizoram The day is

declared a gazetted holiday and is celebrated all

over Mizoram(PIB Features)

ldquo Bamboo Dance to celebrate Chapchar

Kut Festival in Mizoram

ldquo

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ldquo

ldquo

Mizos celebrating Chapchar Kut festival

ldquo

ldquo A Mizo couple in festive mood during

Chapchar Kut festival

ldquo AIO PIB Aizwal

ldquo

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