Chumpha̱ Phanit: Tāngkhul Women’s Role in Economy

The Chumpha̱ Phanit, a post harvest agricultural festival among the Tāngkhuls, acknowledges women’s role in the traditional Naga economy. This festival is one of the most significant festivals of the Tāngkhul community, especially for married women, as it marks a change of hands and exchange of responsibility from mothers-in-law to their daughters-in-law.

Now that the harvest is almost over in most Tāngkhul villages, people are getting ready for Chumpha̱ Phanit, an important post harvest and agricultural festival that the Tāngkhul community celebrates. Apart from this, there are two other agriculture related festivals: Luitā Phanit and Mangkhap Phanit.

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In the olden days, one day prior to the festival, the menfolk of the village would take out their bows, spears, knives, axes, etc., and keep in the open courtyard and go away to the jungle in search of crabs. The menfolk would collect crab and soft reddish clay and spend the night in the jungle. They would then return only the next day with the crabs and clay gathered. The womenfolk would then take the live crabs – which are carefully molded with clay and put inside the granary.

As mentioned earlier, a significant part of this festival is handing over of responsibilities to newly married women. It is during this festival that the mother-in-law hand over the charge of the granary to her daughter-in-law after due process and observance of “Chum-Sin-Sa.”

According to Tāngkhul custom and tradition, “Chum-Sin-Sa” is the practice whereby the parents of the bride have to offer certain animals to the groom’s family for a feast to announce that their daughter is now capable of managing the kitchen of her in-laws. It was only after this ritual that the mother-in-law would hand over the responsibility of the house to the daughter-in-law.

Shaireilā was a beautiful and charming lady from Sihai village. She was popularly known as “Seikao Philava” because her father was a rich man with many chaoleng (a huge cow).

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She was married to Yangmarāng Horamwo, the Chief of Phungcham village. In order to be the “Ākhavaiva” (mistress of the house), her parents had to give four legged animal as “Chum-Sin-Sa” to her in-laws.

As the time for Chumpha̱ Phanit set in, Shaireilā went home to her parents to ask for a chaoleng. Her father told Shaireilā to pick and take four or five fattest chaoleng, since Phungcham was a big village. But taking her mother’s advice, she picked the scrawniest one among the herd. Her mother had secretly instructed her to pick the scrawniest one. Her father repeatedly asked her to pick the fattest chaoleng from the herd, but Shaireilā insisted and stuck to her mother’s secret advice. After much persuasion and nagging, her father finally gave in to her choice.

Before leaving for Phungcham village for performing the Chum-sin-sa, her parents told Shaireilā to look for a bowl inside the stomach of the chaoleng. Accordingly, after reaching Phungcham, when the animal was killed, they found a bowl inside the stomach of the chaoleng and Shaireilā stored away the bowl. Even today, the bowl is still in the custody of Phungchamwo (Village chief of Phungcham). The wife of the Phungchamwo is the sole custodian of the bowl. She is the one who performs all the rituals related to the bowl. The bowl is used even today for predicting the particular year for Phungcham, especially her crops. This ritual is performed only during the Luitā Phanit (seed sowing festival) by the wife of the village chief and publicly announced on the said festival. The villagers of Phungcham have always been following the prediction and sow seeds accordingly even today. The bowl is a gift from Shaireilā to Phungcham.

Again, in the olden days, lovers were usually betrothed or married off during the spring season and not any other season. The newly married women would help her-in-laws in tilling the field, transplanting the rice and harvesting the paddy and only after this phase of work, she would be recognised as the “Ākhaivaiva” (mistress of the house). This recognition is only a process to entrust the responsibility of the kitchen to her. The ceremony of “Chum-sin-sa” is a must to give complete responsibility to the daughter-in-law.

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The village authority or elders usually announce the date for Chumpha̱ festival only after the whole village has completed their paddy harvest for the year. There is no fixed date for the said festival; it depends on the completion of the harvest of the village.

During this festival, the older womenfolk invoke blessings from the creator to bless their harvest. They pray for a bountiful granary so that it will sustain them throughout the year up to the next harvest. The womenfolk make sticky rice bread and share them with family, friends, neighbours and villagers and conclude the Chumpha̱ Phanit with merry making.

Chumpha̱ Phanit is an acknowledgment of the important role played by Tāngkhul women in the economy as caretakers, nurturers and managers of household wealth. Tāngkhul Naga women are the backbone of the community economy.

When we look at the stories of the olden times, women had a much higher position within the social structure. How their role deteriorated over the years could be due to many factors. One of them, could be the lukewarm attitude towards our festivals- especially those closely linked with our land- which are always related to the various roles every person has in a community.

It is up to the people to keep alive and revive such celebrations. The Tāngkhul Naga tribe has been consistently celebrating Chumpha̱ Phanit. Maybe there is a slight variation in the way we celebrate it now. Yet, such activities will always play an important role in carrying forward our identity as a people and reaffirming our close relationship with our land.

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