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Mopungchuket villagers pull a log during a ‘sanctification ceremony’ that was conducted in the village on Tuesday, in Mokokchung district.[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Mopungchuket, Jan. 30 (EMN): The minister for Higher & Technical Education Temjen Imna Along Longkumer on Tuesday urged the people to “come back to the village and love your village.” He was addressing a cultural programme in Mopungchuket village, in Mokokchung district, and was referring to the cultural heritage that is ‘rapidly diminishing’ among the Naga family.
Speaking on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), Longkumer asserted that the Northeast states felt insecure about the Bill in the Lok Sabha because people failed to preserve and safeguard the traditional and cultural identity.
In this connection, he said that like the Bill there will be many more bills in the future that might affect the people. ‘Unless we safeguard and preserve our cultural and traditional belief and practices we will not be insecure,’ he reminded.
Thanking the framers of Article 371 (A), Longkumer asserted that to ‘preserve and safeguard ourselves we should thoroughly know our cultural heritage.’ If the people want to survive, he said, ‘we should search and rediscovered out lost tradition and cultural values.’
Colourful traditional finery, folk music and dance performances and sumptuous feasts marked the cultural event.
Sanctification ceremony
A ‘sanctification ceremony’ was observed in Mopungchuket village on Tuesday. The ceremony signifies the reign of a new ‘putu menden’ (Ao for village council) in the village. It is said that the ceremony is being observed since time immemorial in Mopungchucket when younger peer groups take over the position of the council from the elders. In Ao customary practices, council members are not elected by contest but nominated from each clan for a period of thirty years.
A pavement was also inaugurated by Ozukum. In his address, the minister lauded the people for their strong feeling of patriotism and love for motherland. He said Mopungchuket was known and ‘widely spoken in the government’ for its transparency in managing village development board funds, besides in other ‘communitized’ sectors too.
