Morung Express News
Kohima | January 28
The Southern Angami Students Union (SASU) held the 68th Biennial Literary cum Cultural Day on January 27 at Khuzama Local Ground on the theme “Cognizing Culture Identity” with Er Khose Sale, Chief Engineer, Dept. of Power, Kohima, Nagaland as the Guest Speaker.
Speaking at length on the implicitness of the theme, “Cognizing Culture Identity”, the speaker stated that ‘identity’ manifests the human values and ‘culture’ forms the progressive attributes of the customs practiced, beliefs, way of life and social organization of a particular ethnic group.
Knowing and preserving the good and bad is what “cognizing” envisages. The power of choice is the essence of “cognizance”. Looking at a wider parlance of the theme, he stated the lack of actual documentation and recording our history is in need of thorough research by the academicians. “It has reached a point of urgency to document our rich cultural past which is mostly orally scattered,” he noted.
The talk on culture and tradition has to be challenging to synthesize our attitude, actions and mindset, he said. “Our Naga identity is rooted to land and culture; we are the people of the mountain and forests, trees and rivers, its loss is seen as a loss of identity, its protection is inherently linked to protecting our tribal culture,” he added.
In the context of our Naga history and tradition, traditional knowledge and wisdom are mechanisms for balancing ecology and sustainability. Therefore our Naga identity is intertwined with nature, beginning with our habitat, our cultural activities, institutional practices as clan system, taboos and gennas, story-telling and folktale.
Stating that the means of food-gathering as fishing and hunting in the past were traditions which in fact assured sustainability, Er Sale viewed that a lot of our modern practices have disrupted the peaceful chain of our existence with nature. Furthering our culture and traditions not only add values but also adds to our economy, he maintained.
Ketholeto Anthony Zashiimo, President, SASU, delivered the presidential address and expressed that the theme “Cognizing Culture Identity” was adopted to "re-essentialize" our rich culture. With the community facing a deluge of modernizing forces and the younger generation becoming oblivious to traditions and cultures, the program is initiated towards reassuring revival of our culture and traditions, he added.
More than 700 student delegates from 13 villages of the Southern Angami region, guests and elders from the other Angami regions attended the programme.
The programme featured a cultural exhibition cum competition with participation from 10 villages. In the afternoon session Kesosul Christopher Ltu, President, Naga Student Federation (NSF) exhorted the conglomerate. Stating that unemployment among the educated youth is alarmingly high, Ltu called for identifying one’s individual capabilities and potentials.
A quiz competition on the cultural history of the Angami Nagas was held during the day. Other competitions of the day were Mepfii Kero (war cry), Folk dance, Tati, original story writing (Folktale) and Painting. The reigning Mr and Miss SASU 2018 was conferred to Siivito Mekro of Kezoma Village and Vikhotsono Khora of Kigwema village respectively.
