10/11/2010 07:11
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Chapchar kut: Mizoram
     CHAPCHAR KUT : The Mizo’s festival of joy
The white flag flies high in the air, fluttering in the
envigorating wind under the cloudless sky of spring.
The sound of the beatings of the gongs reverberated
on the surrounding hills. The crowd, young and old,
from all walks of lives, were pouring in in thousands.
It is show time at the Assam Rifles parade ground
right in the heart of Aizawl. The day is the second
friday of March, 2005 on which the most joyful
festival of the Mizos - Chapchar Kut - is celebrated
every year. Standing in the ground were hundreds
of Mizo damsels and energetic young-men dressed
in their colourful attires all poised to perform the
colourful Cheraw dance, thus heralding the start
of the festival for the day. 
 a dozen or so Mizo youths congregate, in the Chap-
Chapchar Kut literally means - a festival held during
the period when the bamboos and trees that have
been cut down are being awaited to dry to be burnt
for jhumming. During this brief layoff period of
jhumming, the Mizo ancestors could have all the
time for themselves. They spend their leisure hun-
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ting games, fishing, et al. The Chapchar Kut festival
evolved sometime between 1450 -1600 A.D. when
the Mizo forefathers inhabit Lentlang. In the olden
days, the festival could last for days and in the run
up to the grand finale, there are well laid down steps
to be followed. Everyone in the village have a role
to play; of course, the youths were most involved
in every stage of the preparation and in the festival
itself. Designed to be a festival of joy, all disputes
and differences that may be there in the community
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should be settled, even altercation between married
couples was a taboo during the celebration of the
festival. Abundant supply of meat must be there
and home brewed liqour must be over-flowing to
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keep their spirit high. They danced away all all their
cares and made merry all night long. That sums up
how the Mizos celebrate Chapchar Kut in the olden
days when they were heathens.

The modern version of Chapchar Kut have done
away with liqour, which was once a part and parcel
of the festival. Even so, the present generation is not
in any way lacking in keeping the spirit of the festival
fever pitch high. In fact, Mizoram has been a dry
state for years; the Young Mizo Association (YMA),
the largest NGO in the state, is combating drug and
alcohol on a war footing starting this year and they
are also very much a major player in organising
Chapchar Kut. But who says one needs a bottle of
rum to be merry ! The younger generation of the
Mizos have invented for themselves enthralling
music..music...and more music to drowned them-
selves in. This was evident, as it always is wherever
char Kut festival. The crowd went berserk when
the choicest  of the Mizo pop divas performed Mizo
songs. Believe me, right from toddlers to policemen,
who were supposed to keep watch, were practically
dancing. 

The chief minister Zoramthanga, in his very brief
inaugural speech, says : “ Chapchar Kut has come
to be a very important medium through which we
could express to the world outside that the Mizos
all over the world remain united and that it shall
remain so. No matter where in the world we live or
to which ethnic tribes of the Mizos we belong to, we
should never allow economic, cultural and religious
differences do us apart ”. True, Chapchar Kut is a
symbol that shall remain a living prove that blood
is indeeds thicker than water. Mizo delegates from
Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura came to witness
the festival this year and the people warmly welcome
them. 

When it comes to the time for Chai, the last and the
most hilarious dance, all the people joined in. Stan-
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 10/11/2010 07:11
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Chapchar kut: Mizoram

ding in circles and swaying from side to side to the

slow moving tune of Mizo songs of yesteryears, it was
free for all. A few of the western tourists and other
domestic tourists ventured out to join the party. It
was apparent that there was no cultural, religious
or nationality barrier amongst that waves of sea of
people dancing. But then, where else in India, if not
in the world, would you chance upon such likeable
and hospitable people, other than in Mizoram. Jus-
tifiably, the most peaceful state in the country. Be
there on the second friday of March next year to
witness Chapchar Kut.

see picture of Chapchar Kut 2005 

THE ORIGIN OF THE CHAPCHAR KUT

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