Sunday, 18 December 2016

[www.keralites.net] In Kongthong,Meghalaya each person has a tune assigned to him or her, by which s/he is identified.

 


What's in a name? In Kongthong,Meghalaya  it's just a tune

 People of Kongthong do not use names to communicate with each other. In stead, each person has a tune assigned to him or her, by which s/he is identified. This is a tradition that has been in vogue since time immemorial.

"When a woman is pregnant, she thinks of a particular tune, sometimes a birdcall, which becomes the name of the newborn. After the birth of the child, adults around it constantly hum that tune so that it identifies with the sound. This is an age-old tradition the origin of which is as distant as the region itself. It is particularly useful during hunting expeditions. When a group goes hunting, they use these sounds to alert fellow members without arousing the curiosity of another group that may be after the same prey," explained Ever E F Sancley, a PhD scholar at the department of English of North Eastern Hill University.

 "It is a mark of our identity. Among ourselves, we would never use our official names. So, if I meet a fellow villager from Kongthong, I would sing that particular tune, and he would identify which family I am from. Even from the pitch of the tune, one can understand whether it is a distress call or just a greeting."

Full article in the link below 



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Posted by: Ravi Narasimhan <ravi.narasimhan.in@gmail.com>
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