Hill Miri (exonym) are a native tribe of

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

. They are spread in Upper Subansiri and Kamle districts. The term "Hill Miri" was given by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Administration to distinguish between the “Plain Miri” of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and the “Nyishi” of

. They speak a

Tibeto-Burman The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people spea ...

language, but the exact origin of their language is disputed. The festival celebrated with enormous pomp and gaiety is BooriBoot-yullo, on 6 February. The rituals of these festivals are carried out by the community priests (''nyub''/''nyubu'') which include chanting of hymns and sacrificing animals viz. mithun (''sobe''/''sebe''), goat, chicken (pork), pig (''irri'') etc., and serving of local brew (''opo'') to attendees. The traditional attire of men includes ''lenin'', cloth wrapped over the body covering the upper portion of the body up to the knees, and headgear includes a cap (''bopar''/''bopa''/''bopia'') made of cane which has a strap of bearskin attached anteriorly (sometimes with a hornbill beak at the top). The man carries a machete (''orok''/''oriok'') and a knife (''rwchik''/''rwuchuk'') shoved inside a bamboo sheath wrapped with animal furs. The women's clothing includes a blouse and a long cloth (''gale'') wrapped around the waist with a beautiful piece of art knitted on it. The tribe are agriculturalist and primarily grow crops such as ''dagam'' (rice), ''temi'' (millet), ''mekung'' (cucumber), ''takie'' (ginger) and a host of green leafy vegetables. Jhum cultivation was dominant among the tribe but over the course of time have started adopting WRC gradually. They grow millet especially to prepare a local brew (''opo''), also made from the rice, which is very popular among members of the community and other tribes as well. The brew is served in plenty on occasions like festivals, marriages, and parties.

References

Upper Subansiri district Lower Subansiri district {{ArunachalPradesh-stub