SHILLONG:
Spring is here and the Khasis, especially the believers of Seng Khasi or Niam Khasi, look forward to the Shad Suk Mynsiem. Hosted by the Seng Khasi – an organisation formed by 16 educated Khasi men on November 23, 1899, the history of the dance is as old as the organisation itself.
A three-day religious event filled with dance and rituals – all to give thanks to God and prayers for a blessed year- called forth people from all parts of the Khasi Hills to come in throngs to Madan Weiking to witness the male and female dancers dance to the tune of the Ksing.
“It’s a beautiful spectacle,” said Ida, a German scholar who is currently interning in Shillong, “it’s my first time and I couldn’t help but notice the drums being played in the festival. The way they dance, especially the girls, and how they move. I’m somewhat intrigued by this and perhaps would come again to learn the cultural dance since I’m doing drama and music therapy. Perhaps I might add them to our studies,” she said.
The dancers -724 females and 727 males — the young and the youth, decked in the Khasi traditional attire, prepare their way to the ground, some iterating that it was their first time dancing and the others calling themselves veterans, to begin their last dance in the three-day festival.
For the crowd, the sight was glorious but for the believers, it meant that it is the 112th year of thanksgiving to God and the festival itself is a way to retain and remember the Khasi tradition and culture.
Here, in Madan Weiking dance and ritual go hand in hand, and as Maduh, one of the Seng Khasi elders, says: “Before we begin anything we pray and perform rituals. You could see that even when we entered the field we prayed so that God would send the rain or other disruptions away, thereby making Shad Suk Mynsiem a successful one.”
Lyngdohs or priests of the Seng Khasi would perform rituals and rites to move the spirits of the believers participating in the ritualistic dance before the Ksing and tangmuri play their tunes. Only then, would the dance commence.
Shad Suk Mynsiem over the years has been held in high esteem by many in the hills and outsiders as a gateway to the rich Khasi culture and the Niam Khasi. The tangmuri and Ksing transport people to the olden times when tradition and oneness with God and nature go side by side. As one fellow local who is a regular here says,
“It is here that one could unravel one’s rootedness, learn the past of our forefathers and keep our Khasi culture alive. “
Governor Phagu Chauhan, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, Chief Executive Member of Khasi Hills District Autonomous Council Titos Chyne, and DGP Lajja Ram Bishnoi attended the programme.