Pongtu Festival

Here comes the Pongtu Kun. It’s a festival showcasing the socio cultural life of the Tutsa community of Arunachal Pradesh in April. Pongtu is one of the oldest agricultural festivals, celebrated, mostly, in in Tirap and Changlang districts. Literally, Pongtu stands for “pong" which means wind while "Tu" means season. It’s the season of wind.

Pongtu is observed to offer prayers to the Almighty. These people believed that puja offering also appease the fore fathers and ancestors. Pongtu Kuh, the first day is called Hawkjam Leijam. The young boys collect firewood and leaves (Kawpatta) from the forests. Towards the evening, they assemble in the house and old people perform certain religious ceremonial. The Tutsa community derived the religious ceremonial called 'Romtam".

The ritual is performed by pouring rice beer into the hearth (tongcho) and that particular rice beer should invariably be prepared from rice cultivated in their fields. Then the people gather at the Lowang's or chief's house for dancing and merry making. The second day of the festival is known as 'Lomsingsa.' During the day, the villagers assemble in the chief's house in order to perform the various rites and rituals.

After the rites they take rice beer, meat, etc. and dance on the bamboo scaffold in front of the chief's house. On this very special day of the community. The Tutsa people wear traditional ceremonial dresses that are known as Pongtu Chom. In the evening, villager see omen on their village and agriculture.

They dance nine rounds in the whole village till evening. Then they proceed towards the second chief’s house and come back. By the time the headman of the "Samwalong" again performs a rite on the road. He takes some rice powder and keeps in the middle of the road indicating that nobody is permitted to cross the road during that night. The fourth day of the Pongtu "Kuh"'Noktang.'

They carry them to their houses and mix them with the hairs snatched from the tails of cows and buffalos. They keep all the four items together in the cane rucksack where they keep their valuables things which they belief that it will bring wealth to the house. This particular ceremonial is called "Romtak". The sixth day of Pongtu Kuh festival is known as "Lakrikhak Sa" the ceremonial where elders give blessing to the young ones. The seventh day is called "Sephophui Sa" as they collect a few selective millet plants destroyed by the pest. They carry them back to their houses and in the evening they set on fire the millet plants to destroy the pests. The eighth day of this festival is 'Sattok Noktong'. During this day, nobody is allowed to go out of their houses nor is anybody permitted to enter into the village.

They believe that if anybody goes out of their house, the pest will increase. The ninth day is 'Sukanghat Sa' where the villagers visit their agricultural fields and collect a particular piece of wood (they call it 'Suntamlak') and bring it to their houses and perform a religious ceremonial on that piece of wood to prevent to any natural calamity. The tenth day is Chamwi Sa last day of the festival. The male members of a family go to their paddy field.