Himalayan Times (1954)

iflitrnlnnan tine a

October 24, 1954

LEPCHA FOLK DANCES

' • K P. . TAMSANG

If anything cm be interior, the rural Lepchas not to the watches', clocks
said about the tribal still claim to be the pre- or the Almancs but to tht
amusement of the Lepchas, server of the rich treasure mother nature, to the birds
a very ancient aboriginal . of folk music and dancing and flowers of the forest to
community, I think it having h gh artistic qua- the humming and the
mu t bi dancing. It is lities. Shorn of all arti- shrill whispeiing insects
accompanied by drinking, fices and artificialities of of the hills and dales*,
which appears to form a urban civilisation, folk iir*; Thus in their dances and
very prominent feature of represents the expression musics today you find
every, social function as . of Joy and innermost them imitating them,
well as of the religious spirit of rural life which trying to speak out their
ceremony Dancing takes is always hard but healthy. aspiration, hopes ar:d me-
place at all feasts and at crude but simple and iw- es'ages. They alRO on
wedding and wakes, ma- sopbiscated but innocent. their part help and ins-
rried persons taking part It was Washington Irvii.g truct them and tell them
as well as the youngmen who remarked that "The to get busy in the fields,
arid girls'. Lepcha dancing character of a people is For them the orchid bloo.
purports to be ari imita- often to be learnt from ming on the rocks, twi-
tion of the beasts, insect* tb,ei* amusements, for in ttering of the birds in the
and plant9 The insects the hour of mirth, the bushes, all thtse have
(fly) when it walks is said mind is unrestrained-and meaning. In short, their
to rub first its hind feet takes its natural bent". culture, custom, traditions
together once, then its Now before describing and waystpf life" are inex-
front feet together once some 0f their best known .trioably boui d up with
afterwhicn it moves to daiwes practised bv Ibem, ' «icra-
the right, rubs its feet it would be interesting to In nearly all cases
together ag*jn, and then,, know, the' background of the dancing is accompa-
moves to the ?i left ma. primitive circumstances of nied by a chant of unison
rubs itaccfeetV^togetfter their ]jfe pcr a wn}]e wjth the music of their
*W£> *ncL«ro on, and the please imagine yourselves instruments, the flutes, the
Lepchas say that thair transplanted in the lap drums and metal pongs,
dancing steps - are thus of ,;he Mighty Kanchen- In their festivals and dan-
based on the movements junga, whom the Lepchas ces, the costume of men
°* a u f' beasts, consider to be their guar- consist of apiece of mul-
and the plants. jjian Deitv> on tn0 8|0pes ticoloured hand woven
. In L°pcha folk dances . of these magnificient hills, cloth, wrapped round their
one could, get a glimpse - in that part of West Ben- body, both .ends knotted
of their culture, traditions gal, they are" born, they ' on the left shoulder
and ways of life which live and there they die with a pin made of Bam-
unfoitunately are bei g And in course of their boo; leaving the' .flight
forgotten gradually. In routine of lKe they ba9e shoulder bare, and iiied
the villages deep in the and adjust their activities .with a sash round their