OLAC Record oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C58A-5

Metadata
Title:		Thread-making
		Cholim - Making thread from Riben bark
		The Traditional Songs And Poetry Of Upper Assam – A Multifaceted Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of the Tangsa, Tai and Singpho Communities in Margherita, Northeast India
Contributor:		Meenaxi Barkataki
Contributor (consultant):		Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim is his Cholim name; Lukam is the name used by other Tangsa groups)
		Mrs. Rengya Tonglum
Coverage:		India
Date:		2009-11-04
Description:		Vieo of the process of making thread from the bark of the riha (riben) plant As demonstrated by Mrs. Rengya Tonglum in Kharangong village In the evening Lukam Tonglung then explained the whole process to me again. The riben plant grows in the jungles. Earlier, the Nagas use to make cloth using this thread but nowadays it has stopped as there is not enough of that plant to be found and because it is a very long and difficult process. But the cloth made from riben lasts forever, and it is also warm, and can be destroyed only by fire or if torn (when working in the jungles). So nowadays it is used only for these ritual purposes of tying around the wrist of newly borns, or newly weds or such. Before cutting the branches, a prayer has to be said, if the thread is to be used for ritual purposes later – Lukam recites it in Cholim for me, although his wife did not bother to do it before actually cutting the branch earlier (could be again a sign of Lukam’s over-acting). For making normal cloth no prayer needs to be said as they have to cut lots of branches from wherever they can find it. Once the thread is pulled out from the bark, as shown in the video, it has to be cooked in hot water to make it soft. Then it has to be washed and beaten (often at the river), then spun to get thread. It has then again to be cooked for a whole day with the water from cooked rice, when it gets a white colour and becomes like cotton. Then it has to be washed and beaten in the river and spun out again, twisted [women usually do the twisting when they are walking to work], to make thread. Meaning of tying the riben thread on wrists of newly-borns or newly-weds: Riben is a symbol of strength, of endurance and durability. So it is tied to ward off illness, death or bad luck. If sometimes the fate of the parents bodes ill for the child, if the mama’s tie the riben thread on the child, since they are stronger, the parents’ fate can get neutralised.
		This project contains linguistic, musicalogical, ethnographic and other cultural information about three communities in Upper Assam: Singpho, Tai and Tangsa. The recordings and analyses have been done by Stephen Morey, together with Palash Kumar Nath (Gauhati University), Juergen Schoepf (Phonogram Archiv, Vienna), Meenaxi Bhattacharjee, Chaichuen Khamdaengyodtai (Rajabhat University, Chiang Mai), Zeenat Tabassum (Gauhati University), Karabi Mazumder (Gauhati University), Krishna Boro (Gauhati University). The key aims of the project were • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the varieties of Tangsa language spoken in the Margherita Subdivision of Upper Assam, India, • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the traditional songs, and poetry of three endangered language communities in the Margherita Subdivision: the Tangsa and Singpho (both Tibeto-Burman) and the Tai (Tai-Kadai), including a study of Tai traditional manuscripts, which are highly relevant for language and culture maintenance among the Tai. Within each of these communities there is considerable linguistic and cultural diversity, so all the files have been divided up and named according to this system: Tai SDM01 Phake SDM02 Aiton SDM03 Khamyang SDM04 Ahom SDM05 Khamti Singpho SDM07 Turung SDM08 Numhpuk Hkawng SDM09 Diyun Hkawng SDM10 Tieng Hkawng Tangsa SDM11 Youngkuk SDM12 Cholim SDM13 Kimsing SDM14 Tikhak SDM15 Lochhang SDM16 Ngaimong SDM17 Maitai SDM18 Shechhyv SDM19 Mossang SDM20 Khvlak SDM21 Lakkai SDM22 Lungri SDM23 Hakhun SDM24 Lungkhe SDM25 Ronrang SDM26 Sangte SDM27 Sangwal SDM28 Halang SDM29 Haseng SDM30 Morang SDM31 Moklum
		Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim) is the leader of the Cholim community in Kharang Kong. He came from Burma in the 1950s to join his brother who had already set up in Kharang Kong. He is very knowledgeable about all aspects of Cholim culture.
Format:		video/x-mpeg2
		video/x-mpeg1
		audio/x-wav
		image/jpeg
Identifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C58A-5
Publisher:		Stephen Morey
		Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University
Subject:		Making thread
		Tase Naga language
		Tangsa - Cholim variety (general name Tonglum)
		Assamese language
Subject (ISO639):		nst
		asm
OLAC Info
Archive:		The Language Archive at the MPI for Psycholinguistics
Description:		http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for OLAC format
GetRecord:		Pre-generated XML file
OAI Info
OaiIdentifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C58A-5
DateStamp:		2017-04-21
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for simple DC format
Search Info
Citation:		Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim is his Cholim name; Lukam is the name used by other Tangsa groups) (consultant); Meenaxi Barkataki; Mrs. Rengya Tonglum (consultant). 2009-11-04. Stephen Morey.
Terms:		area_Asia country_IN country_MM iso639_asm iso639_nst
Inferred Metadata
Country:		IndiaMyanmar
Area:		Asia