Tutsas celebrate 'PongtuKuh' in Changlang

A CORRESPONDENT

CHANGLANG: The Tutsa community of Changlang district celebrated their harvest festival, 'PongtuKuh' with traditional gaiety. It was organized by the 'Tutsa Pongtu Celebration Committee' at Changlang general ground near here.

Minister for Education & Department of Indigenous Affairs (DIA), TabaTedir and Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs Mama Natung attended the celebration as the 'Chief Guest' and the 'Guest of Honour' respectively.

Addressing the gathering, Minister Tedir said that the DIA is ensuring the preservation and promotion of indigenous faith, culture, and tradition through various approaches. He also said that the DIA will soon provide Identity cards to the priests from all the tribes within the State to check the flow of fake priests.

Likewise, the Department has also set up Nyibu NyagamYarkoschool at Seppa to broadcast knowledge on culture, tradition, and faith about the Nyishi community of the State.

"Our children should be well versed with the origin of our community and the most important thing is to know and speak one's own language. Today the most concerning factor is the extinction of a local language," he said while appealing to the parents to communicate with the children's in the local dialect from the very tender age so that they can remember their mother tongue throughout their life.

Tedir further said that it is not too late to preserve the local language before it is taken over by some foreign language.

The State government has already planned to open a Gurukul-like 'NyibuNyagamYarko' at various other districts in a phased manner to promote and preserve our cultural identity, he added.

"The Rangfraha and Galo communities are very likely to have the Gurukul in their districts in years to come," he said, adding, "each festival should respect Mother Nature as most of the local festival celebrated by different communities across the State is related to celebration of the bumper agricultural harvest.

Appreciating the Tutsa community for preserving their indigenous beliefs, culture, and tradition, Minister Mama Natung said that these three factors determine our identity.

He added, "If we lose our tradition, culture, and faith; there won't be any identity of any tribe in the entire State. Hence, people from every walk of life should come together to uphold the true identity of the State."

He further said, "A person can be known as Nyishi, Galo, Adi, or by the name of any other tribe from the State only if he/she knows how to speak his/her own mother tongue.

''Besides speaking own language, each person should also know about the origin of his/her tribe, tradition, and culture."

He pointed out, "It is because of the colourful tradition and culture of Arunachal Pradesh that the people from outside the State visit ours," and also stressed on preservation of the diverse cultural identities. "The need of the hour is cultural exchanges among the tribes of State."

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