Singpho tribe dance troupes from Arunachal pradesh performing horn-bill dance at Pragati Maidan on the occasion of India International trade Fair on 26th November 2012.
The Singpho people of Arunachal Pradesh inhabit in the district of Lohit and Changlang and the Kachin State of Burma. Some are also found in the Tinsukia district of Assam. Comprising a population of at least 7,200 in India, they live in 13 villages, namely Bordumsa, Dibang, Ketetong, Pangna, Ulup, Ingthem, Mungbhon, Pangsun, Hasak, Katha, Bisa, Namo and Namsai. The Singpho are the same people as those called the Kachin in Burma and the Jingpo in China. They speak the Singpho dialect of the Jingpo language.The Singphos are divided into a number of clans, each under a chief known as a Gam. The principal Gams include the Bessa, Duffa, Luttao, Luttora, Tesari, Mirip, Lophae, Lutong and Magrong. The Singpho are also divided into four classes, namely Shangai, Myung, Lubrung and Mirip.
Like the Khampti, the Singpho are mainly Theravada Buddhist by religion. In memorial of Gautama Buddha, the Songken festival is celebrated in April. Spiritual worship (nat) is also practised as well in addition to Buddhism. According to their belief, malevolent and responsible spirits causing miseries to mankind were worshipped on ceremonies and spirits like Ningsenat, Multung-Dingna, Cit-Hungnat, Natkum, Mainat, etc. were given offerings upon the sacrification of cattle such as bulls, pigs, cows and chickens to appease the spirits. They also believed that God uses a rainbow as the ladder to meet his wife on the moon. Small Christian communities do exist among the Singpho. Unlike most hill-people, shifting cultivation (Jhum) is not as widely practised, although tea is widely planted. The Singpho produce their tea by plucking the tender leaves and drying them in the sun and exposing to the night dew for three days and nights. The leaves are then placed in the hollow tube of a bamboo, and the cylinder will be exposed to the smoke of the fire. In this way, their tea can be kept for years without losing its flavour. The Singpho also depended on yams and other edible tubers as their staple food.
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