Rice Beer: Finding its way to the Sacred

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Cultural Studies - Miscellaneous, North-Eastern Hill University (Department of Cultural and Creative Studies), course: Folkloristics, language: English, abstract: Rice beer is used in different occasions. The main purpose of it is to represent as a symbolic tool for initiation and conclusion of certain rituals and ceremonies. In festivals and dances, without rice beer, the performers or dancers cannot enthusiastically display their performance, with charm and gaiety. Rice beer makes each and every individual participating in the dance to perform freely without hesitation and also refreshes them when they are weary and tired, especially during sunny day. One of the main reasons for it to become so important an entity in particular festivals or dance is that it is easily available and culturally associated with the life of the people. Rice beer maybe regarded as a tool of pleasure for relief to the people during festivities, but when it comes to performing rituals and uses for religious purposes, it becomes the most sacred item as a symbolic representation for reverence to the Gods and Goddesses. The paper will try to understand the role of rice beer in the rituals and festivals, which we will look briefly at the 'Pynhir meidhan' ritual of the Bhoi in reverence to the Goddess Lukhmi and 'Ka krud Ksing' , a dance performed in Umtyrkhang, Mawhati also in Ri-Bhoi.