Tirap district celebrates Pongtu festival in Arunachal Pradesh

ITANAGAR: Pongtu, the main agricultural festival of the Tutsa community, was celebrated with traditional gaiety and religious fervor at Khonsa in Tirap district on Tuesday.

Gracing the festival, state RWD Minister Honchun Ngandam appreciated the community for preserving, promoting and protecting their beautiful culture and colourful costumes and advised them to uphold the culture and traditions for posterity.

Ngandam added that culture comes through nature. As such culture, religion and politics should not be confused and mixed up by people. He appealed to the intellectuals and scholars of Tutsa, Nocte and Wancho communities of the district to do research thoroughly in what way old folk songs, folk tales and folklore can be preserved, protected and promoted in written or documentary form.

Khonsa East MLA Wanglam Sawin, in his address, urged the Tutsa community to continue and practice the ancestral culture and traditions which were handed over by forefathers and to preserve, protect and promote it for posterity.

Lowangdong exhorted the people to continue bonhomie between all the tribes of Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts and urged upon the youth to avoid all anti-social activities including drugs, while Namsai MLA Jingnu Namchoom said that Arunachal is known as a land of festivals with various tribes coming together on such occasions sharing love and brotherhood. The celebration was marked by beating the traditional log drum along with colourful traditional dances performed by villagers of Tutnu and Tutsa. Earlier, the celebration began with Rangtaam rituals led by the chief of Tutnu.