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3. Lai Haraoba rites

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  Lai-Haraoba Rites      Humans and trees have had a deep relationship throughout time. All of us depend on forests for our survival. All the activities we do directly or indirectly involve forests. Besides providing livelihood and habitat for humans and animals they also maintain climate, prevent soil erosion and most importantly they also absorbs harmful gases. So it is very important for us to protect and conserve them.  Lai-Haraoba      Since ancient times, forest conservation in Meetei society were very unique. We have a tradition of maintaining and conserving our sacred forests, groves and trees. Each locality celebrates a festival called Lai - Haraoba which means ‘merry making of God’. It is observed in the honor of Umang Lai. Umang Lai are the sacred tress preserved for the local forest deities. The time and duration of celebrating this festival depends from locality to locality but it generally falls during spring to summer season. It ...
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2. Scripts from bygone era

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  SCRIPTS FROM A BYGONE ERA           A script refers to a collection of characters used to write languages. A language is a method of communication. Language and script are culturally sensitive issues because it touches the core of social element as well as identity. A mother tongue develops a strong foundation for learning additional languages. It not only stimulates their confidence but also develop personal and cultural identity. If people are no longer able to represent themselves, they begin to lose a part of themselves.           Meetei Mayek is the script which was used by the Meeteis till the beginning of 18th century. It nearly became extinct during the reign of Ningthou Pamheiba (Garibniwaz) due to the destruction of all the sacred Meetei manuscripts. Following this, Bengali script was adopted and is still being used to this day. During the 1940’s and 50’s, Meetei scholars start a campaign to bring back the ...
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1. The forgotten sacred texts of Meetei

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  THE FORGOTTEN SACRED TEXTS OF MEETEI Who are Meetei ? Do we know our identity?        I won’t be wrong to say that most people will fail to answer this.      I am not against any religion. I respect the faith of all communities and I also regard the rights and traditions of all religion. However, when we talk about Meetei , it is very unfortunate that most of us Kangleicha suppress our own identity. We also perform a lot of our religious rituals and rites by using another language (i.e, Sanskrit) discarding our own Mother tongue. Cultural heritage provides a sense of unity and belonging within a group. It helps us to better understand previous generations and the history we come from. It also gives a sense of personal identity. Morals taught to us by our ancestors are priceless.      In my humble opinion it is important that we keep in tune with our roots and stay in touch with our culture and traditions. Thankfully our ancesto...
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Location: Manipur, India
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