Cheiraoba :New Year of the Meiteis

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• published: 14 Jul 2016
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The first day of January brings new hopes and renewed energy. Worldwide celebrations and hard partying set the scene for the new year. The Manipuri New Year however falls on a totally different date and month of the year. This community of North East India follows their lunar calendar for festivals and auspicious ceremonies. New Year for them falls in mid-April during Sajibu, the first month of the Manipuri lunar calendar. The New Year is warmly welcomed with widespread celebration of the Cheiraoba Festival The exact day of Cheiraoba is debatable. Followers of Sanamahi religion celebrate Cheiraoba on nongma paanba or the first day of the Sajibu month. Vaishnavites celebrate Goura Cheiraoba on Pohila Baisaakh. Markets bustle with shoppers on the eve of Cheiraoba. Houses are thoroughly cleaned with special focus on the kitchen. On the morning of Cheiraoba, the chengphu or the container used to store cleaned rice is filled to the brim. It is the belief that this ritual will ensure the household a prosperous year ahead. In the past, missionaries of Hinduism have succeeded in instilling a deep thread of Vaishnavism in the Imphal valley. Despite their efforts, they were unable to completely end the people’s faith on their ancient religion and so, both indigenous as well as Hindu deities are worshipped with equal reverence though the ancient tribal deities hold more importance inside homes. Lai Phi Hongba or offering new clothes to deities is an important part of Cheiraoba morning rituals. Next is Athenpot Kaabaa or offering the season’s produce to the gods. This is a form of expressing gratitude to the Gods for the preceding years and invoking their blessings for the future. Local seasonal fruits and vegetables, flowers like kusum lei and kombirei are a must. Rice, betel leaf and betel nut, along with money, incense and meira or fire completes the offering. After the meira and incense burn out, the offerings are used as ingredients for the morning’s lunch. A variety of vegetarian dishes are prepared on this day. Meiteis are lovers of fish although all other forms of meat are forbidden in their kitchen. However the Cheiraoba lunch has to be prepared without fish in any form. Cooking fish delicacies on this occassion are a new trend. The majority however prefers to stick to old rules. Manipuris consider even numbers inauspicious. The numbers of dishes to be cooked and items offered to the deities have to be odd. Singju, uti, eromba, champhut, kang-hou, pakoras, mixed vegetables and lentils are an essential part of the day’s cuisine. Small portions of rice and prepared dishes; fruits, flowers, betel nut, betel leaf, money, fire and incense are offered in the slots prepared. Cheiraoba offerings make little boys rich. Boys run around the locality waiting for a family to make offerings. As soon as the person gets inside, they compete amongst themselves to steal the money offered. Dishes prepared are shared with neighbours. After the distribution, the family then sits together to enjoy a sumptuous meal. Cheiraoba afternoons always end with Cheirao Ching Kaba which is essentially a trek up the hills. Enthusiastic people climb particular hills in the valley to offer prayers to deities on the hilltops. On the day of Cheiraoba or within a week after that, married women visit their maternal homes. They present gifts to all the male members of the family and their female elders. A new trend of entertainment has started in the past decades. Thabal chongba dances are organized in some localities where boys and girls dance to their hearts content. Thanksgiving, devotion, adventure and entertainment all in a day! Isn’t this a perfect way to welcome the New Year? This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The collection comprises of 150, 000+ hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, XDCAM and 4K. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Please subscribe to our channel wildfilmsindia on Youtube for a steady stream of videos from across India. Also, visit and enjoy your journey across India at www.clipahoy.com , India's first video-based social networking experience! Reach us at rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com To SUBSCRIBE click the below link: www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=WildFilmsIndia Like & Follow Us on: Facebook: www.facebook.com/WildernessFilmsIndiaLimited Website: www.wildfilmsindia.com