[Assam] jonbeel fair

[xourov pathok]

http://in.news.yahoo.com/indiaabroad/20080119/r_t_ians_nl_general/tnl-an-assamese-tribal-fair-where-curren-b9e311f.html
An Assamese tribal fair where currency is taboo
                
                        






Sat, Jan 19 12:21 PM
Jonbeel
(Assam), Jan 19 (IANS) It's like a gala carnival with thousands of
people shopping amid the cacophony of pop music - the only difference
is that currency is forbidden in this exotic fair in India's
northeastern state of Assam.


More than 10,000 tribal villagers
from distant locations have gathered at a sprawling meadow at a
roadside village in Jonbeel, about 60 km east of Assam's main city of
Guwahati, for the three-day fair that ends Saturday.


>From rice to
turmeric, wild potatoes, fish and fowl to fruits, villagers in their
traditional costumes have set up makeshift stalls in this unique annual
bazaar.


'The most interesting aspect of this three-day fair is
that people practice the age-old barter system. Cash transactions here
are considered a crime,' Dipsing Deo Raja, the 15-year-old king of the
Tiwa tribe in Assam, told IANS.


Dipsing, perhaps the world's youngest living king, inaugurated the fair Thursday by invoking Agni, the Hindu god of fire.


'It
is a sight to watch, with people from far flung areas coming to
participate at the fair carrying items ranging from rice to dry fish,
bamboo shoots to poultry,' the king, a class nine student at an English
medium school in the neighbouring Meghalaya state, said.
'They do
their business like any other trader and at the end of the fair return
to their villages happy and satisfied although there is no question of
profit and loss,' he added.


Hopsin Bey, a Karbi tribal farmer, trekked through dense forests for about eight hours to reach Jonbeel.
'I
and my wife came with some turmeric, garlic, and sticky rice. In matter
of hours we traded our items in exchange for some sugar, salt, and dry
fish,' Bey said.


His wife Pramilla said the fair acts as a meeting ground for scores of ethnic groups.


'It is pure fun here as we meet people from various other tribes,' she said.


Like the Bey's, there are many families who visit the annual Jonbeel fair regularly.


'Me
and my family have come here from a very distant village only to see
the boy king and pay our obeisance to him,' Timola Amsih, an elderly
Tiwa tribal woman, said.


For the hundreds of people who come down
from the hills and dales to participate in the fair, it is like
festival time - they set up makeshift bamboo and thatch huts for the
three days and eat together in groups.


'This fair is a part of
the tribal tradition here and has been going on for ages. There is no
recorded history as to when the Jonbeel fair first began,' N.
Barbaruah, a Tiwa tribal elder, said.


'It is our endeavour to
keep alive this ancient annual barter fair. The day this fair is
stopped means the end of tribal culture and our roots.'







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