Woods are lovely dark and deep’-Robert Frost created such enigmatic impact with these lines that resonates memories of an entwining relationship between the human and natural worlds. The woods are indeed lovely for all those communities whose survival and identities are rooted in forest lands. People have to depend on fossil fuel for every aspect of their life. Whether it is health concerns, cooking meals or strengthening the bamboo or wooden walls, firewood becomes indispensible in the rustic communes of Naga hills.
Firewood plays a significant role in social, economic and cultural lives of people. Every life-cycle function is incomplete without the use of firewood. Firewood fumes are considered to be harmful in the modern context of healthcare but somehow they have healing, strengthening, nourishing and life-giving properties. Communities depend on firewood for cooking fodder for pigs and poultry apart from kitchen use on a daily basis. In some customary practices, when a man puts the firewood meticulously in a bamboo basket or khang for the woman he chooses to marry the firewood khang represent the beauty of the woman.
A pile of firewood for whole year for household use would cost around Rs. 4000-5000. Such piles are bought by both households and institutions in the rural context where alternative fuel costs are exorbitant and sometimes in accessible. In Nagaland, firewood is valued much more than any other source of energy. In one village after cutting the firewood and piled in a forest area, there is a spell which is casted with a tree branch stuck to the pile so that nobody can steal the pile. If anyone touches the firewood they will get sick or get some bad luck. Such is the safety net for firewood. One elderly man in a village of my work in Nagaland was admitted to the hospital for treatment. He was unwell and his only wish was to come back to his kitchen fireplace and get healed. Winters are extreme in the Naga hills, not everyone can afford heaters or warm clothes.
Electricity goes for months together once the transformer gets burnt. It has happened 3 times since last six months in electrified villages also. So for common people firewood is the most important resource. Firewood is also used during festivities and community feasts. It brings young and the old together otherwise life can get very difficult. In one of the Naga villages, as a part of community practice every new year on the 2nd of January all community households have to contribute the first day of labour to the church. They carry firewood from the community forest and contribute towards the Church. The Church stocks the firewood collected through community labour and sells it to people who need it.Firewood economy is strong in defining relationships within the community. People share their work, money, labour and livelihoods in the context of firewood.
Firewood burns the longest and can be very effective in cooking, smoking, steaming and roasting practices which keeps the Naga kitchen alive and creates the authentic aromas of slow food. Firewood is also a disinfectant which ensures seed safety and other food products stocked up near the kitchen fire. In a world where climate risks and carbon emissions are traded through green technology, forest regeneration and wildlife conservation, firewood economy can play a very pivotal role. Firewood is also recycled when farming practices are based on the forests like that of Jhum cultivation. All the primary forest which is cleared during the 1st stage of swidden agriculture is equitably shared by the farmers for both farm and household use. Firewood transportation through medium and smaller loading vans has become another source of livelihood for the rural youths.
Charcoal making, wood chip use, wood ash use for field manuring and making household implements like weaving tools, basket making, bed and chair making, house building are very crucial traditional livelihoods for rural youths in Nagaland which are dependent on firewood. So when prohibition orders from urban spaces reach these far flung rural pockets, suddenly their traditional skills, livelihood practices and customary practices becomes illegal and polluted. For the elite the colour of soot and firewood is ominous but for poorer households blackening of walls due to firewood burning is auspicious and disease-free. If a freshly crafted bamboo basket woven intricately is not smoked well and its colour does not turn to dark mahogany or deep cherry red, it is not considered to be sturdy enough for use.
A Naga home in rural Nagaland doesn’t need pest control, DDT or any spraying of chemicals, firewood smoking can keep is pest free and leak proof for a long time. Firewood economy is also a determinant of family bondings and life skill education for the young people in a rural Nagaland context. When the fire is made, there are very delicate techniques which every child has to learn very early in life. They cannot survive without making fire. Some children learn it very early in life especially those with younger siblings as they take up the parenting role when parents are away in the field. Children are taught how to make fire as a life skill tradition in Naga hills.
Firewood economy is sustainable and life saving for the most vulnerable communities in the Naga village context. It is a household fuel which is managed mostly by women. Women carry firewood, split them for cooking purpose and also control its use to sustain the family needs throughout the year. Critics of firewood economy will be conscious about the tree felling and cancer causing fume emission in an elitist and urban context, but without alternative energy sources, safe cooking fuel and appliances, use of firewood cannot be prohibited. But definitely firewood growing patches can be promoted through community forestry practices and wood fire economy can sustain many livelihoods. Woods will continue to be dark and deep in rural Nagaland when economic, social, ecological and cultural rights are strengthened in the flames of firewood.
Samhita Barooah Researcher and Travel Writer
