Karbi New Year begins

The Karbi New Year, the first month when Karbis select landfor jhum cultivation, has been celebrated throughout the district of KarbiAnglong by various celebration committees on Saturday.

Karbi New Year better known as Karbi Ningkan Kimi is beingcelebrated with pomp and gaiety across the Karbi Anglong Hill district today.

According to the Karbi calendar, February 1 is considered asNew Year by the Karbi community since long. The new year marks the beginning ofthe traditiol Jhum cultivation of the Karbi people.

The Karbi people will observe Karbi Ningkan Kimi with pompand gaiety by holding various tradition events and games throughout the day.

To welcome the New Year, the Karbi people in Karbi Anglong,West Karbi Anglong, and other areas organized traditional ceremony to pray tothe almighty, Hemphu.

Rongker is observed to seek blessings for the villagers andall other people of the Karbi tribe in the New Year.

The Karbis, mentioned as the Mikir in the Constitution Orderof the Government of India and Assam till 1976 are one of the major ethniccommunities in Northeast India and especially in the hill areas of Assam. Thegreat artist-scholar Bishnu Prasad Rabha refer to them as the Columbus ofAssam.

The Karbis celebrate many festivals. Among them,Hacha-Kekan, Chojun, Rongker, Peng Karkli, Thoi Asor Rit Asor, Botor Kekur aresuch festivals held around the year and some of them at a specific time of theyear. Botor kekur is celebrated for the purpose to request to god to grace theearth with rain so that crops could be sown. Rongker is celebrated either on 5January or on 5 February as per the convenience of the villager as athanksgiving to God and asking their assurance to protect them from any evilharm that may happen to the whole village.