"March of Apatanis is the film showing the life of Apatani .The Apatani, or Tanii, are a tribal group of about 26,000 (approximately) in Ziro valley in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh India. Their language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family. Most Apatanis are loyal followers of the Danyi-Piilo faith, who pray to the Sun (Ayo Danyi) and the Moon (Atoh Piilo). This Marsh of Apatani is a ceremony in the marrige where the bride is on the front . Abotani is revered as the sole ancestor of all Apatani and other tribes in the surrounding regions. When a misfortune occurs, they believe that it is caused by certain evil spirits, and thus they make appeasement by sacrificing chickens, cows and other domestic animals. MYOKO, the festival of friendship and prosperity, is celebrated in a grand manner lasting for all of March each year. Dree Festival celebrated in July, is the main agricultural festival of the Apatanis. The dress of the Apatanis is elaborate and colorful, yet simple in style. Jilañ, the traditional dress of the priests has recently been made into a five rupee Indian postal stamp. Tattooing (Tiipe) and the stuffing of large nose plugs (yaping hullo) were once popular among the women, although this practice has gradually fallen into decline in recent years. This practice is believed to have started because the women wanted to look unattractive to males from neighboring tribes. Apatani women were considered to be the most beautiful ones among all the Arunachal tribes. Younger members of this community have stopped this traditional practice. Apatanis celebrate the whole ceremony where they drink and eat with the whole family.Traditionally, the men tie their hair in a knot just above the forehead (locally called piiding) using a brass rod (piiding khotu) measuring 12 inches, placed horizontally. Strips of fine cane belt painted in red (yari) and bent into the shape of a horse-collar with an elongated end were also worn.
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.
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