IMPHAL, May 23 NNN : Gudui-Ngai festival of the Zeliangrong community was celebrated today in many Zeliangrong villages in Manipir valley.
It is an important ritual festival of the Zeliangrong people of North East India.
Gudui means the soup of ginger.
It is also known as Maleng-Ngai. It is a festival of worship of the supreme God for abundant harvest and particularly celebrated by the Rongmei / Kabui Community. It is usually celebrated in the month of April-May for one day only. In this festival, they drink ginger soup ritually. The festival is being celebrated today in every Zeliangrong village in Manipur valley and elsewhere.
In the early morning of the festival, every household performs a ritual called Malengmei. In this ritual, rice-beer and Gutam (crush ginger) are offered to the Supreme God and Majapui, Goddess of paddy with a sort of religious hymn. This is followed by Napkaomei ritual in which an offering a fowl is made to the Supreme God for granting plentiful harvest and toward off the insects and pets.
Ginger is considered to be the most important food and it is also used in various rites and rituals. Ginger soup mixed with chicken meat is served to every member of the family to nourish health and longevity which signifies the deliverance of life from hunger during scarcity or famine. In the evening, elderly men will sing katu, an agricultural ritual song by marching from one end of the village to the other end for plentiful harvest in the year. There is a sport program called Loijaimei meaning tug-of-war between boys and girls as a symbolic representation of competition between God and Goddess for possessing the paddy. Girls ritually win the game, for there would be plentiful of food grains in the village.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/ginger-soup-drinking-festival/
