1. Origins

2. Celebration

3. References

1 day long

The Chapchar Kut is a festival of Mizoram, India and Chin State, Myanmar.^[1] It is celebrated during March after completion of their most arduous task of jhum operation i.e., jungle-clearing (clearing of the remnants of burning). It is a spring festival celebrated with great favour and gaiety.

Origins

Chapchar Kut is estimated to have started in 1450–1700 A.D. in a village called Suaipui. Chapchar Kut was discouraged when the missionaries came to Mizoram as it was felt that it did not adhere to Christian values, however, it was revived in 1973 on a mass scale sans animistic practice and cheraw dance.^[2] Chapchar Kut is now held annually in the Month of March. Chapchar Kut is one of three annual festivals of the Mizos celebrated to mark three different stages of the agricultural cycle. The other two are Mim Kut and Pawl Kut, also revived in the last century.

Celebration

Oral traditions say Chapchar Kut was first celebrated in Seipui village in adjoining Myanmar that has a sizeable population of Mizos and their ethnic cousins. Chapchar Kut used to be celebrated to thank the gods for saving the people from harm during the clearing of forest on hill slopes for jhum cultivation at the beginning of a year. The festival used to be observed with a lot of drinking and eating. On the first night the young men and women would dance all night. The women would come dressed wearing a Vakira. Chai dance has its origins in this festival.^[3].

Today, the festival is observed in the last part of February or the early part of March when the trees and bamboos felled for jhum are left to dry and the shifting cultivators have time to relax and enjoy.^[4]

References

• Spanish ship Guadalmedina
• Spanish ship Guadalquivir
• Spanish ship Guadiana
• Spanish ship Juan Sebastian Elcano (1927)
• Spanish ship Neptuno
• Spanish ship Neptuno (1795)
• Spanish ship Nuestra Senora de Atocha
• Spanish ship Nuestra Senora de Atocha (1620)
• Spanish ship Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion (1570)
• Spanish ship Nuestra Senora de la Santisima Trinidad (1769)
• Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha (1620)
• Spanish ship San Agustin
• Spanish ship San Agustin (1768)
• Spanish ship San Agustin (1769)
• Spanish ship San Ildefonso
• Spanish ship San Ildefonso (1785)
• Spanish ship San José
• Spanish ship San Juan Nepomuceno (1765)
• Spanish ship San Pedro de Alcantara
• Spanish ship Santa Dorotea
• Spanish ship Santisima Trinidad (1751)
• Spanish ship Santísima Trinidad (1751)
• Spanish Ship Santísima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora del Buen Fin
• Spanish shrew
• Spanish Silver Train