Seng Kut Snem Festival Date 2017 to 2022
Seng Kut Snem Festival is celebrated 23rd November every year.
About Seng Kut Snem
Meghalaya is also known as a “Tribal Land” with a number of tribal communities living here. As different tribal groups have different traditions and customs associated with them, all the major festivals celebrated here are based on the religious and spiritual sentiments of the natives here.
Among all the tribal groups existing in Meghalaya, the Khasi community is one of the largest and has its own culture, religion, beliefs and identity. The Festival of Seng Kut Snem is celebrated in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya. It is an annual indigenous festival held in the month of November.
The festival acts as a means of fun and entertainment for the Khasi Community as they sing, dance, play music and have great merriment. Sound of different musical instruments fill the atmosphere with fresh vibrancy. Kids, adults, men and women all come together to celebrate this festival and make it memorable.
Earlier simply a religious act, the festival of Seng Kut Snem has slowly grown in its popularity and entire Shillong waits for this festival year long. Not only for the locals of Shillong, but tourists from outside find it very attractive and interesting.
Seng Kut Snem Celebration
Seng Kut Snem is the celebration to commemorate the renaissance and awakening of the Khasi community as a whole. The Seng Khasi was formed 117 years ago by 16 magnanimous young men who worked towards the preservation of the traditional beliefs and the culture of the Khasis and these men stood up against the British imperialism and strengthened the community to ensure that it deserves all that is there and to preserve the identity through the formation of Seng Khasi,” said Banteidor Rumnong, president of the Seng Khasi that was formed on November 23, 1899.
When asked about the hurdles faced by the Seng Khasi, he pointed out that conversion to other faiths had weakened the traditional faith in the beginning. “One of the threats, particularly in the early times, was the conversion to other faiths that led to the dilution of the culture, traditional beliefs and our roots,” he said and added that despite all odds the faith strived and fought for its identity.
R. Rynjah, culture secretary of the Seng Khasi, said people from Christian faith have come to an understanding and are now back to the traditional fold. “Some of them say they entered Christianity without understanding. It has dawned upon them that they are to preserve the Khasi culture and faith, we are born as Khasis and we will be Khasis,” he added.
Rynjah informed that every Sunday, there are speakers who talk on the traditional knowledge and wisdom of the Khasis. “It is a sort of Seng Khasi awakening movement. The movement has more than 300 branches all over Khasi-Jaintia.”
Through the celebrations of Seng Kut Snem, the Seng Khasi has upheld its aim of protection and preservation of the customs and traditions embracing all aspects of the Khasi way of life, which included traditional music and dances, games and amusements, Rynjah explained.
