Discolouring someone's soul? Of Magic Potions and Pumpkin Hats

After a long break and with no excuse... except for terrible internet connectivity in rural Nagaland, but i've got something interesting that i really want to share here.

I have come across many people in Nagaland who believe in "Jaadu" or magic. When people say "Jaadu kuri she" (magic spell cast on someone) it usually has a negative connotation, "jaadu" here almost always means magic performed to harm someone. I remember hearing quite a number of stories from friends and relatives about people who became mentally unstable after getting some sort of magic spell or magic potion from someone, mostly love potions! It is interesting to note that these evil spells it seems are usually a result of intense love or hate; when the victim or victim's family commit an act utterly unforgivable to those who possess magic or in many cases when desperate plea for love is not reciprocated.

In our oral traditions too there are records of people who performed witchcraft, people who could talk to the dead, or designated individuals who performed magical rituals to heal the sick, see off the dead, talk to dead ancestors besides those whose spirits were tigers and pythons (Were-tigers are real, at least here! But that needs a separate story-telling session). According to ancestors and elders, in our culture witchcraft is hereditary  - only the offspring of a witch or a wizard can inherit magical powers from their parents. Here,  no "Muggle" :-) can have magic no matter how much they wish for it.

The Sümi word "Ghü" is to dye, to turn something into a different colour and "Ghübide", usually negative, is to totally alter the colour or character of something or someone leaving no trace of the original look. So in Sümi, one meaning of Ghü is to dye, usually dying of raw cotton yarn with different herbal concoctions transforming the yarn mostly into red, indigo, yellow and black for weaving traditional shawls and skirts. The other meaning of Ghü translates to something like "dying someone's being" changing the very colour of her soul with some sort of magic potion.

In the month of April 2012, i came across this man in a relative's house. I wouldn't have noticed anything if it wasn't for the conspicuous rind of Pumpkin around his head. At first, no one was ready to tell me what was going on, they said it was just a treatment for headache.

For a day i decided to respect their silence but the Pumpkin Hat treatment continued the next day. More fresh pumpkin rinds chopped and fashioned into hats and even the treatment duration strictly timed: putting on the hat every alternate hour, replacing with a fresh new rind.Very scientific!

I could control my curiosity no longer and i almost forced my relatives to tell me everything saying that i was genuinely interested in learning about this strange ailment and this extraordinary treatment. After much coaxing and pleading and pulling them into discussions about some very unrelated topics, they conceded.

This man agreed to tell me his story (which he told in bits and pieces because he was "jaadu-ed". I got a "formal consent" from him to publish his story and his photo(without showing his face of course!) wearing the Pumpkin Hat -- what i was really curious about.
It has been a while since this man moved away his village and has been working in a farm in another village. He said he left his village after certain complications arose between his family members regarding land ownership. Although he maintains a cordial relationship with his kith and kin he rarely sees them and it was after a long time he traveled back to his village in 2011 to pay a visit to his relatives.

A few months after returning from his village he fell ill, his mind was disturbed, he could not eat or sleep properly and headaches increased. This was when people around him and he started suspecting that a "Jaadu" was performed on him. His friends took him to a Witch Doctor (yes!) to diagnose the illness and they finally found out the cause: apparently on his last visit to his native village someone had cast a spell on him using some strong magic potion discolouring his mind and soul.

The Witch Doctor prescribed a list of remedies and the Pumpkin Hat was the major treatment he had to undergo for a week or two. Only the white pumpkin variety is used for this treatment. It cools the head and and the mind when worn for a long period. Cooling Pumpkin. Makes sense.

He traveled over 200 Kms to Dimapur to see the "doctor" and a friend had to administer the medications, keeping a strict timer for Pumpkin Hat wearing duration, night and day.

Fortunately for him, the Witch Doctor's treatment worked. All the efforts paid off. This man is now cured and in good health.

Curiously, he told me that the same headaches would increase when time got closer to the State Assembly Elections. Nagaland State Assembly Election 2013 is near! We might need a lot of Witch Doctors!

P.S: There's also this local treatment of Jaundice by rubbing lime on the patient's head and pulling out black thread-like substance from the skull to cure the illness, mostly performed by elderly women. For this i shall investigate more and share the findings here.

ROCKAWARE - Nagaland in Unison: Making music for a noble cause

Rockaware (Nagaland in Unison) is an initiative to promote young Naga talents for a good cause by the Government of Nagaland's Music Task Force and NSACS and a long list of sponsors and supporters. The show aims at spreading awareness of HIV/AIDS through music and young gifted people.

After visiting nine districts non-stop, the Rockaware team finally reached Zunheboto on the 6th of October with the brand ambassador, Renbeni Odyuo, the current reigning Naga Idol.

This was probably my first experience of this type of talent hunts in Nagaland and the show exceeded my expectations. I am totally impressed with how the whole road show is being managed. A truly professional team lead by Theja Meru have been tirelessly traveling the length and breath of Nagaland inspiring young people to realize their talents and live better lives. 

The youth, especially in a place like Zunheboto, needs a platform such as this to understand that they can actually use their true capabilities and achieve their dreams, pursue whatever they wish to be and not be bounded by obligations and pressure to search only for stereotypical government jobs. Looking at the huge crowd of young people enthusiastically responding to the messages and the bands, it made me want to believe that we can now slowly move away from the old, unproductive belief system that requires every student and young person to tailor themselves for a restricted set of roles that our society accepts -- the big government posts. Musicians are not taken seriously here unless you're in sudden need of a wedding singer or a church singer. Artists, writers, designers, hair stylists, cobblers, farmers, plumbers, traders, businesswomen, cooks and carpenters have no place in our society yet.

Young people here as far as my experience goes have never been encouraged to look within themselves to find something they truly love doing irrespective of how 'big' or 'small' the role is, to make use of their true talents and live a productive life, instead the ultimate role that our society has sculpted out for young people for nearly a century  is: Either 1. Doctor 2. Engineer 3. clear the UPSC and NPSC exams to become a highly respected officer with peons surrounding him/her whether he/she likes it or not and perhaps the last 'respectable' resort is to join the church ministry as a church leader. Even right now! It's as though every person was born to fit themselves into these few roles that are 'acceptable' and 'respected'. We are still living in the dark ages.

Naga Idol, Renbeni Odyuo singing

Anti-Trust, the winning band

I hope events like Rockaware will light some dark corners and help break thick shells.

Women in villages and the last-bench seat

In all my visits to villages around here, i've come to learn that our women take the backest last-bench seat or the peep-hole post outside. I remember in one village where we went for one of our oral culture recordings, it was the women group who performed most of the cultural songs and dances but after the performance when we came back from the fields to the Village Council Hall for interviews, discussion and refreshments, there was not a single woman except me! I was a part of this elite meeting only because i was a guest, a stranger to the village. I saw the same women who did all the hard work for our recordings standing outside, looking  through the windows, waiting for the signal from one of the men inside to bring in the food to serve us. In another village, the cultural item we were recording included an enactment of feasting as done in the ancient times so when the time was given for drinking and eating, only the men feasted, after a hard day's work under the harsh sun of toiling in the fields by both men and women. Almost all villages I observed have no women who are important enough to join the guests from outside or are in the group of important people of the village. All posts of Village Council Chairman are obviously occupied by men, all Chiefs of villages are men, all Head Pastors are men and all important personalities who welcome guests are men and i also have to add this... all those who eat the special food prepared for the event first are men.

In the most recent program and one of the biggest events in our team's series of travels to villages, i couldn't help but notice that all the 'big shots' of the event were men who were given the privilege to sit inside the extremely well-decorated traditional house.

Local trees of Nagaland

Took some days out to photograph local trees for my sister's taxonomy project and what I didn't know was that it is not as easy as i imagined...to identify trees, they all look similar to me. Hardly any documentation work has been done on our local plants and trees.

Fortunately, the village people were extremely helpful especially one Apuh who is an encyclopedia of indigenous plants and trees, he knows the local names of almost all plants and even their unique characteristics, he's never been to school but his years of experience farming, living close with nature and his passion for experimenting, keen observance and curiosity equates the knowledge of acclaimed botanists. These are some of the trees he took me to the forest to photograph: 

Mighikhaghathisu

Ayesu

Amilisu

Angothisu

Pughokoisu

Khaghathisu

Shedusu

Shulusu

Achesu

Shekuthibo

Xoneyesu

Harvest Ceremony - Ghile Amutha Kighini

Ghile Amutha Kighini hoho shilu keu. Niyeghi lo tuxa tini, tusu-yezu thwokha kumtsu nibo nileyishi ipeghilukeu ghenguno Alhou skimimithi keu kighini.

"465 kernels in this corncob plus another 465 kernels --  from just one tiny corn seed."

Samples of  harvested crops for the ceremony

Rotomi Village and the Weeding Song (Moza Leh)

Rotomi Village, established in 1586 AD, one of the old Sumi villages.

To Rotomi Village, 13th August 2011

Apuh Rotokha and Apuh Pukhazhe enjoying a brief break from the bumpy road ride under a banyan tree.

Rotomi Village gate

The elders at the Chief's house with the Village Chief in his ceremonial red coat

A village elder at the entrance of the field ready to show us how the Weeding Song is performed

Rotomi villagers singing the lively Moza leh 

Rice field - almost ready for harvest

A monolith erected in honour of those 60 Rotomi Villager killed during British Expedition on June 22, 1883. "On 22.06.1883, a punitive expedition led by Naga Hills D.C, Mr. R.B. McCabe and S.D.O. Mr. Broderick, with 100 sepoys and 300 Coolies marched against Rotomi village and brunt down 400 houses and granaries. Cattle carried off, and killed 60 Rotomi. Thus, this village was subdued to British Administration.

DEATH DIVIDES BUT MEMORY CLINGS"

Also in memory of those Rotomi who went to France and Germany to help in the war under D.C, Mr.H.C. Barnes who was their Commander. The names of those who safely returned to the village on March 9, 1917 have been inscribed on the stone.

Aggressive cute little ants that managed to bite my legs and almost killed me...not.:-p

Red Weaver Ants on a mango tree in the middle of the rice field

and their lovely silken round nest of mango leaves!

A modern granary at Rotomi 

The Village Council Hall

Rev. Dr. Najekhu Yepthomi's memorial

A view of Matez, the place where most of the Sumi villages migrated from. 

View of Mountain of the Dead hidden by the clouds. It's so close to Rotomi! The villagers told me that some hundred years ago their ancestors used to hear war cries and voices of dead souls and animals who journeyed to the netherworld to those mountains. They no longer hear them now.

On the way back - gigantic Colocasia leaves and flooded, muddy, useless road at Khitakisa

Viktor E. Frankl no pi keu tsa qo hami ni tsaw no phi ju ni

Ti khikhi no aküvu tsu ani keno shukuthu pithiqhi keu ghi pulu ani ke.

Timi kümtsu pututa makho eno pututa küxü kimiji anie. Timi kümtsu pututaw kuchou kümlapu saje kiu keno pekupulu masae. Milakhi küxü no timi kütami lakhi küxü kili vemla momu timi lakhi küxü hipau ye itaghi akiniu xü kide mulaie, kughengu timi kümtsu pututa kümlapu saje ye kütuta ke eno tipau shi kupuluni keu ghi aghola eno alaghi kütuta ke.

Küghono ninguno ayeghi lo aküxü hipau kimiji kuchou cheju eno kümsu thonei ju ghi xü ni keno ti no aküxü xü pivi lu akeu kuchou ke.

Ningu küxü lo sholu chekeu eno ninguno kiu toi khochile cheni keno ti kuma dolo kumüsuktoju lu kepu do anie. Eno ado hipau lo ningu ye kiu toi aküxü no saghi tsu akeu akivi momu akusa suchedoqo  kiu toi khochile kepu keno aküka ninguw lo anie. Ike ninguw khokichile kiqhi lono ninguno thuwu lu kepu eno ningu tsughape akeu lono khaqhiphe lu kepu ithulu nani.

Ningu ye aküxü vilo aküxü kimiji ye kiu kea ipi iniju akepu do kumo vae ikemu ninguno kumsulu masa keu ye aküxü no ningu vilo tsala kipe tsü asüche do kumtsulo hipau iniju ani ke ipi ithi masai. Ninguw khokichile ye asta eno akükümsu likhi no kumoe ikemu achipiu kumla eno achipiu ghushoghili no ke. Aküxü kimiji kiqhi kuchou ye  bemakho ikhilu no aküxü hipau wu aküküpuna eno aghime jeliqo kiu toi puqhe lu masa keno kuchou khokichile phuni keu ke eno pututa no pututa kumlapu saje shikupulu ani keu ke.