Si-Donyi is the major festival celebrated among the Tagin 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 ...

in North-eastern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is celebrated majorly in district headquarter

Daporijo Daporijo is a census town in the Upper Subansiri district, Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast of India. Nomenclature Originally Dapo referred to "protection" or "the barrier" against the epidemic or evil spirits while Rijo stoo ...

, in adjoining town Dumporijo and in

Taliha Taliha is a village in the Upper Subansiri district in Arunachal Pradesh state of India. It is one of the 60 constituencies of Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh. Name of current MLA (September-2016) of this constituency is Punji Mara ...

Siyum A ''siyum'' ( he, סיום) ("completion"), in Judaism, occasionally spelled siyyum, is the completion of any established unit of Torah study. The most common units are a single volume of the Talmud, or of Mishnah, but there are other units of lea ...

areas, also in state capital

Itanagar Itanagar () is the capital and largest town of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The seat of Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, the seat of government of Arunachal Pradesh, and the seat of Gauhati High Court permanent bench at Naharlag ...

, while in other places also it's being celebrated by Tagin community present there. The festival was first conceptualised in the year 1975 by Late Tatar Uli, who was the main pioneer in inception of Si-Donyi. The other members who bore the responsibilities were Late Tadak Dulom and Popak Bage. The festival was celebrated in the same year under their guidance, and since then, the festival Si-donyi has been celebrated by the Tagin tribe. The first priest who led the ritual was Dubi Nigam. Further the name Si-Donyi was suggested by Shri. Bingsa Kodak.

Duration

It is celebrated from the 4 to 6 January every year. During the festival god Si (Atu Si-male spiritual form of earth) and goddess Donyi (Ayu Donyi-female spiritual form of Sun) is being venerated in their spiritual form.

Rituals

Nibu or the local priest presides over the festival by chanting UI (a form of verbal prayers) to the deities, Si and Donyi in particular. For the prosperity of entire community, to stop malevolent spirits from creating destruction towards the people of community and to ask permission for quality crops and health. Sehtu A platform constructed of bamboos and wood, decorated with required leaves and bamboo stuffs (Nyûgé). The entire hyms and chanting and ghayal sacrifice is done around here. Another key component is dancing; dances such as Chungne, Konyi Bokar, Riabu, and Takar Ghene are performed by the groups of men and women in their traditional attires and ornaments. While older male perform Hoyi Penam which is a specially performed to welcome the spirits. While essentially Etțě, a paste made of

rice beer Rice wine is an alcoholic beverage fermented and distilled from rice, traditionally consumed in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Rice wine is made by the fermentation of rice starch that has been converted to sugars. Microbes are the sou ...

and

rice powder Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera ''Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domesticated, ...

is smeared on peoples' faces in celebration. The Mithun

gayal The gayal (''Bos frontalis''), also known as the Drung ox or mithun, is a large domestic cattle distributed in Northeast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and in Yunnan, China.Simoons, F. J. (1984). ''Gayal or mithan''. In: Mason, I. L. (ed.) ''Evoluti ...

is sacrificed for the deities marking the end of festival, while celebration continues for weeks.

Etymology

It is celebrated to venerate the Si (

the Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

) and the Donyi (the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

), the chief deities among the

Donyi-Poloism Donyi-Polo (also Donyi-Poloism) is the designation given to the indigenous religion, of animistic and shamanic type, of the Tani and other Tibeto-Burman peoples of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in Northeast India. The name "Donyi-Polo" means "Su ...

followed by the Tagin. The male spirit form of the Si god and the female spirit form of the Donyi goddess are worshipped.

References

Donyi-Polo Religious festivals in India Festivals in Arunachal Pradesh {{reli-festival-stub