Chakma people

Beautiful Chakma village & Their Culture- Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

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• published: 09 Sep 2015
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Beautiful Chakma village & Their Culture- Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh Bangladesh has many tribal people, majority of who live in the Chittagong hill tracts area. Life of the tribal people is extremely fascinating. Majority of them are Buddhists, and rest are Hindus, Christians, and Animists. Despite the bondage of religion, elements of primitiveness are strongly displayed in their rites, rituals and everyday life. The tribal families are matriarchal. The women-folk are more hard-working than the males and they are the main productive force. The tribal people are extremely self-reliant. They grow their own food, their girls weave their own cloths and generally speaking, they live a simple life. Each tribe has its own dialect, distinctive dress, and rites and rituals. The common feature is their way of life, which still speaks of their main occupation. Some of them take pride in hunting with bows and arrows. Tribal women are very skillful in making beautiful handicrafts. Tribal people are generally peace loving, honest, and hospitable. They usually greet a tourist with a smile. LIVING CONDITIONS Chakmas build their houses on slopes near the banks of a river or a stream. A few related families may build on the same plot of land, making a homestead (bari). Baris cluster together to form hamlets (para) & a variety of hamlets make up a village (gram). The traditional Chakma house is made of bamboo. It is constructed on a bamboo or wooden platform about meters (six feet) above the ground. The house is built on the rear of the platform. Mat walls divide the house in to separate compartments. A porch in the front of the house is divided in by a mat partition. area is used by men & boys & the other by ladies & girls. Small compartments may be built for storage of grain & other possessions. Household objects ranging from baskets to pipes for smoking tobacco are made out of bamboo. FAMILY LIFE Chakmas are divided in to clans (gojas), which are further subdivided in to subclans (guttis). Members of the same subclan are prohibited to marry each other. Parents arrange marriages, although the wishes of sons and daughters are taken in to account. A bride cost (goods given by groom's relatives to bride's relatives) is fixed when the families negotiate the marriage. The marriage ceremony is called Chumulong and is performed by Buddhist priests. If young people elope, the marriage can be formalized on payment of fines. Polygyny (marriage to over spouse) is acceptable but rare. Divorce is allowed, as is remarriage after the death of a partner. CLOTHING Chakma men have given up their traditional clothes for Western-style shirts and trousers. It is the ladies who maintain the traditional Chakma style of dress, which consists of pieces of cloth. is worn as a skirt, wrapped around the lower part of the body and extending from waist to ankle. Its traditional color is black or blue, with a red border at top and bottom. The second piece of cloth is a breast-band, woven with colored designs, that is tightly wrapped around the upper body. This is worn with a variety of necklaces, bracelets, anklets, rings, and other ornaments. Chakma ladies are expert weavers and make their own cloth. FOOD The staple food of the Chakmas is rice, supplemented by millet, corn (maize), vegetables, and mustard. Vegetables include yams, pumpkins, melons, and cucumbers. Vegetables and fruit gathered from the forest may be added to the diet. Fish, poultry, and meat (even pork) are eaten, despite the Buddhist taboo on consuming animal flesh. Traditional diets have slowly been abandoned, as the Chakmas have been made to run away their homeland. Some typical Chakma dishes include fish, vegetables, and spices stuffed in to a length of bamboo and cooked in a low fire; foods wrapped in banana leaves and placed beside a fire; and eggs that are aged until they are rotten. Chakmas do not like milk. They drink alcoholic drinks freely, and every household makes its own rice liquor. Alcohol is consumed at all festivals and social occasions. EDUCATION Chakmas live in isolated areas of Bangladesh. They are not part of the majority population and are poor by Western standards. They don't have access to Western-style schooling. Literacy (ability to read and write) among men of the hill tribes is about 15 percent. This figure drops to 7 percent for females. Folk music is a major aspect of Chakma tribal culture. It includes romantic love songs known as Ubageet. The Genkhuli ballads relate incidents from the past. There's also epic poems like Radhamon and Dhanapati. Cryptic Sorrow - Atlantean Twilight by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100276 Artist: http://incompetech.com/