Digital Himalaya -“A project to develop digital collection, storage, and distribution strategies for multimedia anthropological information from the Himalayan region“, has finally uploaded some of the Professor Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf’s Apatani film clips shot during the year 1944-45 from their collection at YouTube. Find the video below and others here (Apatani Shaman & their ritual), here (Rope Swinging in
In a report appearing in The Arunachal Times, Yagrung village near Pasighat became the first e-village in the entire North-Eastern region.
Sponsored by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, the College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University, Pasighat has implemented a research project titled “e-Arik (e-Agriculture): Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Agricultural Extension Services” at Yagrung, a small village some 16 kms from Pasighat town, thereby making it a first e-village in the entire North-Eastern region. This pilot project is aimed at developing prototype for village knowledge centre to suit Arunachal Pradesh in particular and North-East India in general
As a part of this project, the students, village youths, farmers and teachers from Yagrung, Tekang and Gangkong village are being given free computer course at village knowledge centre which is equipped with net connection, telephone, TV, DVD and radio.
Let’s see what happens to this ad if we tweak it a little bit to suit the real McCoy.
And they play a big part
in choking drains.
Each time a consumer throw an empty bottle
they don’t give a damn,
‘Cos they can produce a thousand bottles
to replace it.
I’m terrified of rising junk – each moment.
And it’s going to give us,
a lifetime of headache.
No doubt, they are magicians.
As they can sell their cold drinks – even to Eskimos.
And they can even create a mountain…
…a mountain made up of cans & bottles.
For one little second…
… Can you drop the idea of making monies?”
Now, see this…
Is it awful?…Or is it artistic?
Puzzled? Well, it simply means ‘it’s the month of January’ in Apatani and I’ll dwell about this topic a little later in my post.
BTW, how did you bid adieu to the year gone by and welcomed the New Year?
For Hapolians, 31st December being marked as an ‘Indigenous Faiths Day’ all over Arunachal and the day being declared a state holiday this year, the follower of ‘Donyi-Poloism’ flocked to ‘Abotani Hall’ where this day was being observed at Hapoli and for the rest of Hapolians, it was party time-time for picnic, time for late night parties and time to get glued to the TV sets surfing between various channels for New Year eve programmes. For the vegetable vendors, the butchers, the poultry farmers, the grocers, the confectioners and the wine shops, it was a field day- doing roaring businesses that they would normally do in a month or two in a single day.
Also, this New Year eve gave Hapolians a place to hang out till the wee hours, in the form of Voice of Apatani finals at Subansiri Stadium, Hapoli, which began around 6.00 pm and continued till the wee hours. Contestant no. 11, Buru Budhi Koyang, was declared the Voice of Apatani and I salute all those bravehearts who braved the chilly outdoor of Ziro to witness this event.
Having heard the contestant during elimination round and having heard of rigging of voting (apparently, the contestants himself would buy a huge quantity of voting coupons and vote for themselves to stay in the race), I couldn’t braved myself to stand all night in the chilly outdoor to hear them sing again; instead I decided to stay indoors and invited friends over dinner at my place. And what a decision I made, for I could, in the course of discussion during the get-together, learnt a bit about how the months are counted in Apatani.
And here is how:
Murung Pullo -corresponds to the month of January
Pagar Pullo – February
Myoko Pullo – March
Halying Pullo – April
Enda Pullo – May
Piimii Pullo – June
Piije Pullo – July
Millo (Mipya) Pullo – August
Pyapin Sobo Pullo – September
Entii (Bunchi Buntii) Pullo – October
Emo Pullo – November and
Nenke Pullo -December
During the course of discussion one question cropped up.
What calendar system do Apatani follows?
Is it a lunar calendar? Going by the way the Apatani’s use moon phases to determine the month and the term used to describe the month i.e., Pullo or Piillo which literally means ‘moon’ in Apatani, it seems quite plausible that Apatani do follow the Lunar Calendar. But then, Apatani’s do also follow the plant life cycle to determine the beginning and end of the month. For instance, the flowering of sembo (wild cherry) and takung (Peach or Apricot) indicates onset of Murung Pullo. Like wise, ginger plant starts dying after Emo Pullo and pine tree starts shedding it’s leaves after Nenke Pullo and so on. Thus, it is also quite possible that Apatani’s do follow other calendaring system in conjunction with Lunar Calendar.
Now coming back to the title “It’s Murung Pullo”- well, I just meant to say Happy New Year!! as January month being the first month of the year and Murung Pullo indicating that we’ve entered into yet another year:)
Happy New Year to all. And don’t forget to write in how you bid adieu to the year gone by and welcomed the New Year.:)