Maruni (Limbu dance)

Understand

Where Maruni (Limbu dance) comes from

Maruni is the dance of the Limbu (Limboo) community of Sikkim (and the eastern Nepal), performed at the marriage and the Tihar festival of the community. The Maruni is one of the most distinctive regional dance traditions of the Limbu community and is associated with the harvest and the marriage cycle. The form is performed at the cultural programmes of the state and at the regional Limbu community festivals. The dance is also performed in the Limbu-majority districts of eastern Nepal and is one of the principal social dances of the Limbu people of the eastern Himalayan belt.

How it's practiced

Maruni is performed by men and women of the Limbu community in a circle at the central courtyard of the village or at the open ground of the festival. The men and women perform in coordinated steps to the song of the Maruni cycle and to the rhythm of the dhol and the small regional instruments. The dance is gentle, with the small stepping rhythm of the Limbu tradition. Costume is the traditional Limbu dress — the men's dhoti and the women's wrap. Performances are at the marriage and the Tihar festival and at the cultural programmes of the state.