Shad Suk Mynsiem (Khasi)

Understand

Where Shad Suk Mynsiem (Khasi) comes from

Shad Suk Mynsiem is the central thanksgiving festival of the Khasi (and Jaintia) tribe of Meghalaya, celebrated in April at the end of the sowing season to give thanks to the Almighty and the ancestral spirits. The festival is also a community-cultural-cum-religious event, with the dance and the music (the ka phreng, the bronze drum) being central to the celebration. The dance is one of the most distinctive regional traditions of the Khasi community and is performed at the cultural programmes of the state. The festival has its roots in the pre-Christian Khasi animist tradition of the region and is one of the oldest documented Khasi cultural events.

How it's practiced

Shad Suk Mynsiem is performed by men and women of the Khasi 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 Shad Suk Mynsiem cycle and to the rhythm of the ka phreng (the bronze drum of the Khasi). The dance is gentle, with the small stepping rhythm of the Khasi tradition. Costume is the traditional Khasi dress — the women's jainsem (the silk wrap-skirt with the head-cloth) and the men's dhoti and the colourful regional shawl. Performances are at the festival and at the cultural programmes of the state.