1st tribe apatani tribe!
Unique IdentityAlthough sharing a common base Tani language and the Tani religion of Donyi Polo, the Apatani have been known to be distinct in their customs and practices compared to their neighboring Tani tribes. Some of the uniquely identifying features of the Apatani are:
Closely located permanent settlementsThe Apatanis live in very closely constructed houses in the villages. Apart from the advantages of living close by, this arrangement has a great disadvantage during fire accidents.
Permanent wet rice cultivationThe Apatanis are one of the few tribes in Arunachal Pradesh who practice ownership of land and cultivate on them, year after year. Most notable of cultivation practice is their wet rice cultivation. While their neighboring tribes practice shifting cultivation, the Apatanis practice wet rice cultivation with an intricated irrigation and channel system in the field as well as across the network of fields.
Housing structureA traditional Aptani house is identified by its use of tall vertical wooden stilts, tight weave of the walls and the floors, and bamboo roofing. Different parts of the house use bamboos of different sizes and preparations.
Land ownershipAn Apatani may have one or more of these land types.
Facial tattoo and modificationThe Apatanis used to practice facial tattooing and modification until the 1970s. The females used to have two sets of tattoos: one running from the forehead to the tip of the nose, and another set on the chin. The males used to have a less elaborate tattoo on the chin in the shape of a "T". The females were the only one practicing facial modification with the use of a nose plugs, called yaping hurlo in the local language. It was done since old times, to make the women look ugly, in order to protect them from invaders.
The babo and the lapangThe babo is an elaborately structured wooden pole erected in the village as well as in every home of the Apatani.The babo is erected during the festival of Myoko. The lapang is a village platform constructed out of huge wooden planks measuring from one to two meters in width and five to seven meters in length. The village babo is erected close to the lapang. The babo and lapang are reconstructed every alternative four years during the festival of Myoko. The babo and lapang are regarded as sacred; many of the Apatani rituals are associated with them. The lapang also serves as a traditional congregation platform. Aerial acrobatics and daredevilry on the babo were very common till the 70s.
Tapyo, the indigenous saltPrepared from the ashes of certain plants in Ziro, tapyo is an indigenous salt developed by the Apatanis. Tapyo is used in the preparation of many traditional dishes, and also used as an alternative salt. The Apatanis have been using tapyo long before they were introduced to the sea salt or the iodized salt. The chemical composition of the tapyo is not known but many believe it to be the reason why the Apatanis were free from goitre.
SangkhangThe Apatanis use sangkhang, a kind of rubber derivative to create water-tight storage vessels.
Shape of carriage basketsThe Apatani carriage baskets are cuboidal, whereas other tribes' are conical. These days the cuboidal structure is widely adapted by Nyishis around Ziro.
Closely located permanent settlementsThe Apatanis live in very closely constructed houses in the villages. Apart from the advantages of living close by, this arrangement has a great disadvantage during fire accidents.
Permanent wet rice cultivationThe Apatanis are one of the few tribes in Arunachal Pradesh who practice ownership of land and cultivate on them, year after year. Most notable of cultivation practice is their wet rice cultivation. While their neighboring tribes practice shifting cultivation, the Apatanis practice wet rice cultivation with an intricated irrigation and channel system in the field as well as across the network of fields.
Housing structureA traditional Aptani house is identified by its use of tall vertical wooden stilts, tight weave of the walls and the floors, and bamboo roofing. Different parts of the house use bamboos of different sizes and preparations.
Land ownershipAn Apatani may have one or more of these land types.
- Balu (Kitchen garden)
- Aji (Wet rice field
- Yorlu (Kitchen garden located away from the village)
- Bije (Bamboo garden usually located near the village)
- Saadi (Plot of woodland located away from the village mainly growing pine trees)
- Morey (A large plot of woodland located farther away than a saadi
- Hari, Bulla, Tajang, Diibo, Hong and Hija are the main villages of apatani people.
Facial tattoo and modificationThe Apatanis used to practice facial tattooing and modification until the 1970s. The females used to have two sets of tattoos: one running from the forehead to the tip of the nose, and another set on the chin. The males used to have a less elaborate tattoo on the chin in the shape of a "T". The females were the only one practicing facial modification with the use of a nose plugs, called yaping hurlo in the local language. It was done since old times, to make the women look ugly, in order to protect them from invaders.
The babo and the lapangThe babo is an elaborately structured wooden pole erected in the village as well as in every home of the Apatani.The babo is erected during the festival of Myoko. The lapang is a village platform constructed out of huge wooden planks measuring from one to two meters in width and five to seven meters in length. The village babo is erected close to the lapang. The babo and lapang are reconstructed every alternative four years during the festival of Myoko. The babo and lapang are regarded as sacred; many of the Apatani rituals are associated with them. The lapang also serves as a traditional congregation platform. Aerial acrobatics and daredevilry on the babo were very common till the 70s.
Tapyo, the indigenous saltPrepared from the ashes of certain plants in Ziro, tapyo is an indigenous salt developed by the Apatanis. Tapyo is used in the preparation of many traditional dishes, and also used as an alternative salt. The Apatanis have been using tapyo long before they were introduced to the sea salt or the iodized salt. The chemical composition of the tapyo is not known but many believe it to be the reason why the Apatanis were free from goitre.
SangkhangThe Apatanis use sangkhang, a kind of rubber derivative to create water-tight storage vessels.
Shape of carriage basketsThe Apatani carriage baskets are cuboidal, whereas other tribes' are conical. These days the cuboidal structure is widely adapted by Nyishis around Ziro.
2nd tribe : banjara tribe
Arts, literature and entertainment. They live in settlements called thandas. They lived in zupada (hut). Now many of them live in cities. They have a unique culture and dance form. On many occasions they gather, sing and dance.
Their traditional occupation is nomadic cattle herding. Now they are slowly moving into agriculture and trade.
The accurate history of Lambanis or Lambadis or Banjaras is not known but the general opinion among them is that they fought for Prithvi Raj Chauhan againstMuhammad of Ghor. The trail of the Lambadi/Banjara can be verified from their language, Lambadi borrows words from Rajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi and the local language of the area they belong to.
Banjaras originally belong to Rajasthan and they were Rajputs who migrated to southern parts of India for trade and agriculture. They settled down in the southern or central area of the country and slowly loosened contacts with Rajasthan, and their original community. Over a period of time both the communities separated and they adopted the local culture. The language spoken by Banjaras settled in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha, Maharashtra is an admixture of Hindi, Rajasthani and Marathi.
Lambadi Dance is a special kind of dance of Andhra Pradesh. In this form of dance, mainly the female dancers dance in tune with the male drummers to offer homage to their Lord for a good harvest. At Anupu village near Nagarjunakonda, Lambadi dance originated. They are actually semi-nomadic tribes who are gradually moving towards civilization. This dance is mainly restricted among the females and rarely the males participate in Lambadi dance. Lambadi is a special kind of Folk Dance which involves participation by tribal women who bedeck themselves in colorful costumes and jewelry.
Their traditional occupation is nomadic cattle herding. Now they are slowly moving into agriculture and trade.
The accurate history of Lambanis or Lambadis or Banjaras is not known but the general opinion among them is that they fought for Prithvi Raj Chauhan againstMuhammad of Ghor. The trail of the Lambadi/Banjara can be verified from their language, Lambadi borrows words from Rajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi and the local language of the area they belong to.
Banjaras originally belong to Rajasthan and they were Rajputs who migrated to southern parts of India for trade and agriculture. They settled down in the southern or central area of the country and slowly loosened contacts with Rajasthan, and their original community. Over a period of time both the communities separated and they adopted the local culture. The language spoken by Banjaras settled in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha, Maharashtra is an admixture of Hindi, Rajasthani and Marathi.
Lambadi Dance is a special kind of dance of Andhra Pradesh. In this form of dance, mainly the female dancers dance in tune with the male drummers to offer homage to their Lord for a good harvest. At Anupu village near Nagarjunakonda, Lambadi dance originated. They are actually semi-nomadic tribes who are gradually moving towards civilization. This dance is mainly restricted among the females and rarely the males participate in Lambadi dance. Lambadi is a special kind of Folk Dance which involves participation by tribal women who bedeck themselves in colorful costumes and jewelry.
3rd tribe : ute tribe
The Northern Utes, consisting of the Whiteriver, Uintah, and Uncompahgre bands, are exceptional artists and produced extraordinary examples of religious and ceremonial beadwork, unusual art forms, and designed and decorated weapons of war in their traditional culture. The Ute obtained glass beads and other trade items from early trading contact with Europeans and rapidly incorporated their use into religious, ceremonial, and spartan objects.
Like their southern neighbors, the Diné (Navajo), today a large percentage of Northern Ute are members of theNative American Church and participate in sacred ceremonies that use peyote. Traditional Ute healers use peyote to treat infections, and a variety of other plants, including Elk Root, Bear Root (Ligusticum porteri), and tobacco sage. The Ute have integrated peyote religion into their culture; its artistic and expressive influences pervade their art and rich cultural and ceremonial objects. There is evidence the Ute have used peyote obtained through trade and other potent ceremonial plants used as entheogens since ancient times, such as the dried leaves of Larb (a species of Manzanita), tobacco sage collected from the Escalante area (a mild hallucinogen when smoked), and the potent and narcotic White Uinta water lily. Tobacco Sage was also brewed into a tea with Elk Root and the root of the Yellow Uinta water lily, and used to treat tumors and cancer. (While the root of the Yellow Uinta water lily is toxic in large amounts, small amounts can be used to strengthen the heart muscle in people with heart ailments.)
Ute religious beliefs borrowed much from the Plains Indians after the arrival of the horse. The Northern and Uncompahgre Ute were the only group of Indians known to create ceremonial pipes out of salmon alabaster, as well as a rare black pipestone found only in the creeks that border the southeastern slopes of the Uinta Mountains in Utah and Colorado. Although Ute pipe styles are unique, they resemble more closely the styles of their eastern neighbors from the Great Plains. The black pipestone is also used to make lethal war clubs that warriors used to great effect from the back of a horse. The Ute have a religious aversion to handling thunderwood (wood from a tree struck by lightning) and believe that the thunder beings would strike down any Ute Indian that touched or handled such wood. This is also a Diné (Navajo) belief. There is extensive evidence that contact between the two groups existed since ancient times.
Each spring the Utes (Northern and Southern) hold their traditional Bear Dances. Origin of the Bear Dance can be traced back several centuries. Each year, a mid-summer fasting ceremony known as the Sun Dance is held; this ceremony has important spiritual significance to the Ute.
The Uncompahgre Ute Indians from central Colorado are one of the first documented groups of people in the world known to utilize the effect of mechanoluminescence through the use of quartz crystals to generate light, likely hundreds of years before the modern world recognized the phenomenon. The Ute constructed special ceremonial rattles made from buffalo rawhide which they filled with clear quartz crystals collected from the mountains of Colorado and Utah. When the rattles were shaken at night during ceremonies, the friction and mechanical stress of the quartz crystals impacting together produced flashes of light which partly shone through the translucent buffalo hide. These rattles were believed to call spirits into Ute Ceremonies, and were considered extremely powerful religious objects.
Like their southern neighbors, the Diné (Navajo), today a large percentage of Northern Ute are members of theNative American Church and participate in sacred ceremonies that use peyote. Traditional Ute healers use peyote to treat infections, and a variety of other plants, including Elk Root, Bear Root (Ligusticum porteri), and tobacco sage. The Ute have integrated peyote religion into their culture; its artistic and expressive influences pervade their art and rich cultural and ceremonial objects. There is evidence the Ute have used peyote obtained through trade and other potent ceremonial plants used as entheogens since ancient times, such as the dried leaves of Larb (a species of Manzanita), tobacco sage collected from the Escalante area (a mild hallucinogen when smoked), and the potent and narcotic White Uinta water lily. Tobacco Sage was also brewed into a tea with Elk Root and the root of the Yellow Uinta water lily, and used to treat tumors and cancer. (While the root of the Yellow Uinta water lily is toxic in large amounts, small amounts can be used to strengthen the heart muscle in people with heart ailments.)
Ute religious beliefs borrowed much from the Plains Indians after the arrival of the horse. The Northern and Uncompahgre Ute were the only group of Indians known to create ceremonial pipes out of salmon alabaster, as well as a rare black pipestone found only in the creeks that border the southeastern slopes of the Uinta Mountains in Utah and Colorado. Although Ute pipe styles are unique, they resemble more closely the styles of their eastern neighbors from the Great Plains. The black pipestone is also used to make lethal war clubs that warriors used to great effect from the back of a horse. The Ute have a religious aversion to handling thunderwood (wood from a tree struck by lightning) and believe that the thunder beings would strike down any Ute Indian that touched or handled such wood. This is also a Diné (Navajo) belief. There is extensive evidence that contact between the two groups existed since ancient times.
Each spring the Utes (Northern and Southern) hold their traditional Bear Dances. Origin of the Bear Dance can be traced back several centuries. Each year, a mid-summer fasting ceremony known as the Sun Dance is held; this ceremony has important spiritual significance to the Ute.
The Uncompahgre Ute Indians from central Colorado are one of the first documented groups of people in the world known to utilize the effect of mechanoluminescence through the use of quartz crystals to generate light, likely hundreds of years before the modern world recognized the phenomenon. The Ute constructed special ceremonial rattles made from buffalo rawhide which they filled with clear quartz crystals collected from the mountains of Colorado and Utah. When the rattles were shaken at night during ceremonies, the friction and mechanical stress of the quartz crystals impacting together produced flashes of light which partly shone through the translucent buffalo hide. These rattles were believed to call spirits into Ute Ceremonies, and were considered extremely powerful religious objects.
4th n d last tribe : Adi tribe
CultureDormitories play an important role among the Adi tribe, and certain rules are observed. For example, a male can visit the dormitory of a female, although he is not allowed to stay overnight. At times, guardians will have to be around to guide the youngsters.
There is separate dress for women and men which are naturally weaved by women folk of the tribes. Helmets made from cane, bear and deer skin are sometimes worn by the men, depending on the region.
While the older women wear yellow necklaces and spiral earrings, unmarried girls wear a beyop, an ornament that consists of five to six brass plates fixed under their petticoats. Tattooing was popular among the older women.
The traditional measure of a family's wealth is the possession of beads and ornament and land. Adi celebrate their prime festival, Solung, between in the first week of September every year for five days or more. It is a harvest festival performed after the sowing of seeds and transplantation, to seek for future bumper crops. Ponung songs and dances are performed during the festival. At the last day of Solung, throne and indigenous weaponry are displayed along the passage of the houses, a belief that they would protect people from evil spirits.
Festivals and dancesThe Adi celebrate a number of festivals, in particular Solung, in first week of September for five days or more. It is a harvest festival performed after the sowing of seeds and transplantation, to seek for future bumper crops. Ponung songs and dances are performed during the festival. At the last day of Solung, throne and indigenous weaponry are displayed along the passage of the houses, a belief that they would protect people from evil spirits.
Adis dances varies from the slow, rustic and beautifully enchanting style Ponung to the exhilarating, exuberant thumps of Delong. These dances have led to certain forms of dancing which jointly narrate a story, the Tapu War Dance. In the Tapu War Dance, the dancers vigorously re-enact the actions of war, its gory details and the triumphant cries of the warriors. Yakjong is another kind of dance whereby the dancers carry sticks with designs created by removing the barks in certain patterns and then put into the fire for some time, which creates the marked black designs.
There is separate dress for women and men which are naturally weaved by women folk of the tribes. Helmets made from cane, bear and deer skin are sometimes worn by the men, depending on the region.
While the older women wear yellow necklaces and spiral earrings, unmarried girls wear a beyop, an ornament that consists of five to six brass plates fixed under their petticoats. Tattooing was popular among the older women.
The traditional measure of a family's wealth is the possession of beads and ornament and land. Adi celebrate their prime festival, Solung, between in the first week of September every year for five days or more. It is a harvest festival performed after the sowing of seeds and transplantation, to seek for future bumper crops. Ponung songs and dances are performed during the festival. At the last day of Solung, throne and indigenous weaponry are displayed along the passage of the houses, a belief that they would protect people from evil spirits.
Festivals and dancesThe Adi celebrate a number of festivals, in particular Solung, in first week of September for five days or more. It is a harvest festival performed after the sowing of seeds and transplantation, to seek for future bumper crops. Ponung songs and dances are performed during the festival. At the last day of Solung, throne and indigenous weaponry are displayed along the passage of the houses, a belief that they would protect people from evil spirits.
Adis dances varies from the slow, rustic and beautifully enchanting style Ponung to the exhilarating, exuberant thumps of Delong. These dances have led to certain forms of dancing which jointly narrate a story, the Tapu War Dance. In the Tapu War Dance, the dancers vigorously re-enact the actions of war, its gory details and the triumphant cries of the warriors. Yakjong is another kind of dance whereby the dancers carry sticks with designs created by removing the barks in certain patterns and then put into the fire for some time, which creates the marked black designs.