People throng Monolith Festival

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, April 1: The cultural extravaganza called the Monolith Festival continued with all its fervour and enthusiasm on the second day at Khasi Heritage Village at Mawphlang.

The second day of the Monolith Festival 2016 saw the Khasi Heritage Village buzzing with activities from school children who had turned up to attend various workshops under the guidance of experts from the field. Several schools participated in this knowledge dissemiting initiative of the organisers of the Monolith Festival.

Kids were seen busy trying to give shape to clay pottery etc. and even learning the traditiol song sung by aborigil tribes from Australia to protect themselves in the wild. Playing with mud and water or dirtying oneself out in the open has always been any child’s fantasy and it only gets better when playing becomes synonymous with learning new skills and art.

Well this is exactly what was on store for the school children who visited the Khasi Heritage Village on Friday. While the visit to the cultural are was a learning experience in itself, getting to attend workshops on clay pottery making, curving wooden crafts, making traditiol musical instruments etc., were the add on the youngsters were treated to.

“It has been a great learning experience for the children who have come here,” said Sacred Heart Boys LP School teacher Edelbet Warbah as one of his students brought a “cute little” clay pottery which though out of shape was nevertheless made with all the right intent and joy.

The teacher went on to say that children here are not just getting to attend the workshops but experience so many things related to Khasi culture and heritage which would not have been possible if not for the Monolith Festival.

Anita Passah, teacher of St Edmund’s School echoed similar thoughts. She said smilingly that her students learnt some aborigil songs from Australia taught to them by members of rugunya who are here to attend the Monolith Festival.

The rugunya members meanwhile also enthralled the visitors with a playful which got the crowd involved. Elsewhere, the cultural performances carried on continuously in the amphitheater as people relished the traditiol fervour of the event.

As evening descended, the lighted dongmusa set against the heavy sky created a remarkable contrast rendering serenity to the Khasi Heritage Village as the hustle bustle of the hundreds of footsteps immersed into the setting. It was under such beautiful ambiance that the dramatic interpretation of U Soso Tham’s ‘Ki Sngi Barim U Hynniewtrep’, considered the greatest work in Khasi literature, was staged.

It was truly a day of cultural celebration at the Khasi Heritage Village at Mawphlang.

Come Saturday, the village will be ready to celebrate the last day of the magnificent event which will be the grandest of all.