Keh-Me-Ha festival

Keh-Meh-Ha festival is an agricultural festivals of the Idu  Mishmis tribe of Lower Dibang  Valley and Lohit district of the Arunachal Pradesh .It is the post harvest  festival which celebrated every  year on the advent of winter season annually on September 24.

'Keh-Meh-Ha’ means eating together a new rice. During the festival the offering is given to gods for good yield of harvest. The day-long colourful celebration is  adorn with traditional folk dances, rituals and community feast. Keh-Meh-Ha begins with the family preparing for the occasions. The females of house begin preparing rice beer called  “Yu” in two separate vessels.
The process of preparing the rice beer is known as the “YUH-TOMBO-KOH”, It means brewing rice beer for tree stump, as it is believed that the spirit of  goddess“Apeh Milli” of “Apesha” dwells in trees. The female preparing the offering has to follow different taboos strictly. The rice beer prepared in the second vessel is meant for human consumption.

Traditionally, Idus believe in animism they worship several benevolent and malevolent spirits.The goddess" Nani-Intaya" and god" Masello Zino" are worshipped as creators of mankind and universe as a whole.

The festival marked by elaborate rituals and dances, the essential element of the socio-cultural life of the tribal community and the the ethnic grandeur best traditional handloom dresses are worn by both males and females.The festival is involved linked to the community’s love for nature’s. It is a symbolic gesture at the times of festivals like “Keh-meh-ha”, Since, then Idu Mishmi “Kera-ahs” is one of the explicit exhibitions of the presence of rich and colorful festivals of the Arunachal Pradesh.

Generally ,the festival celebrated with festivity and beliefs that if some guest come at the time of celebration it would bring good fate and showering of prosperity, good yield and further also increase the life span of the host of the village. Since, the ancient times, the occasion has been celebrated by generation after generation and has come to be known as 'Keh-Meh-ha',
 
Today, celebration of  'Keh-meh-ha' has seen a major transition  with the way the present generation has been influenced by modern life styles, the ethnic festival cannot remain intact in isolation the way of life in the modern society.

Similarly, the process and arrangement of festival is going on  without causing harm or discarding the traditional ceremony.

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