Young men and women dancers from various villages and elders who are experts in traditional song including Beshot Tholung, Bunghon Suungnem, Belun Sankhil, Beshot Khullar, and Shangwar Dilbung perform “Umi Reelruu Pukee”, “Raalki song nge” and “ Akhuukjing sumkhuu Kjing”. The group of elders sang these three songs while the dancers performed the dances Reel Ruu Kardaam, and they ended with the Khuujin Laa where the song talks about calling all the neighbors to come home from field as the dusk had set in and the birds and animals have gone in to their nests and homes.

Elders from various villages who are experts in traditional songs and dance, including Beshot Tholung of Thamlapokpi, Bunghon Suungnem of Leingangching, Shangwar Dilbung of Khuibung, Belun Sankhil of Phaidaam, Shetwor Dilbung of Keithelmanbi, and Beshot Khullar of Phaidaam performing the dance “Tharon Thoe, Tharon napi napao”. In this dance, while the group of dancers are performing, the singers are in two groups as they had to respond to each other in teams which the dancers cannot do while dancing, so the singers are required even if the dancers sing as their voices are not audible and one runs of out breath while dancing.

The Story of Seven Sons as told by Angtoi Sankhil. A man is killed by a tiger, and as his six sons go to avenge him, he kills them too one by one. The mother is pregnant with a seventh son, who is able to foretell events while still in the womb. After the child learns how his father died, he goes to confront the tiger and his wife. He avoids the tiger's attempt to kill him, takes back his father's head from the tiger's possession, and vanquishes the tiger.

Recording of analytic discussion of verb paradigms at the 2016 Orthography workshop at the Don Bosco Workshop. The discussion was guided by David Peterson and Shobhana Chelliah and included Swamy Tholung, Sumshot Khular, Donnu Sankhil, Rex Rengpu Khullar.

Recording of analytic discussion of verb paradigms at the 2016 Orthography workshop at the Don Bosco Workshop. The discussion was guided by David Peterson and Shobhana Chelliah and included Swamy Tholung, Sumshot Khular, Donnu Sankhil, Rex Rengpu Khullar.

Recording of Tyler Utt and Shobhana Chelliah eliciting tone words in Lamkang (H-K) with Sumshot Khular.

Recording of Tyler Utt and Shobhana Chelliah eliciting tone words in Lamkang (L-M) with Sumshot Khular.

Bunghon Suungnem of Leingangching tells what he did to establish the school in his village and in culture promotion, and then Shetphong Jangvei of Charangching, who was earlier in Manipur Rifles and later elected as Member of District council, shared the light of education and how Shekarnong Sankhil organized a student conference where he demonstrated how they shoot the sun. Shetphong Sankhil describes learning about Haikaa, and he requested to discuss how Chuva and Khava went to heaven, how people killed elephants and Sumphai was sold by her brother to ask villages to come prepared and how he appreciates them. Then Bunghon Suungnem explains the ornaments and dress that dancers wear during performances.

Sumphai leh Rangleng [Sumphai and Rangleng] as told by Sankhil Thampol Khularnu of of Thamlakhuren, Part 1. Sumphai was a hardworking sister of Rangleng, but she was despised by the lazy wife of Rangleng, who nagged her husband into selling her off so that they could be alone. As the husband went to sell Sumphai, while they spent the night in a riverbank, the sister Sumphai had a dream in which their mother appeared. The mother was talking to the brother and asking him what on earth he was doing. The mother told him not sell his sister but to go back home. When Sumphai recalled her dream to her brother, he was even more furious and took a strong stand to sell her off.

Skinyernu and Penpenjur [The Bad Woman and Good Woman] as told by Sankhil Thampol Khularnu. In this story, a lady who was very good and industrious, Penpenjur, was killed by a bad woman, Skinyernu. Later Skinyernu played the role of the wife of Penpenjur, whom she had killed. However, the first wife, Penpenjur, was reborn to fight with the bad woman. The good woman won the fight, but the good woman killed again with the poison from the banana leaf that was used to wrap a food pack, a banana that grew out of the bad woman. In the end of the story, the husband and wife met in the land of the death, but as they were to go to their final destiny, the man laughed and this caused them to be separated. In order to get around being separated, they grew as two separate but joined at the upper branches, like a tree and climber.

In this telling of Humpii Pa le Milai [the story of Humpiipa and Miilai], a human being and a tiger become friends. When the tiger visited his human friend, he killed a chicken and added to it a kind of mushroom called tree mushroom [u phot], which tastes like the kidney of the chicken. Then he invited his human friend to his house and killed all the chickens he had so he could offer his human friend chicken-kidney curry. At night, the tiger took his friend to the tallest tree and had him sleep there and told him that in case he sees anything weird, not to be sacred but just stay up there safe on the tree.

Recording of Tyler Utt eliciting tone words in Lamkang (F-G) with Sumshot Khular.

Paul Leo of Senapati, former President of the United Naga Council, shared how important culture, tradition and identity is. As Nagas, we are taught through oral teachings by our parents and a man or woman who knows the story and about anything pertaining to the society. These elders performed and shared the stories and the dresses and ornaments that we are showcasing. They say we need to document and make it available to the community not just Lamkang, but also to other Nagas in Chandel and in Manipur and Nagaland. We have elders who are willing to transmit their knowledge to the community. Let us also preserve the animals that are around us so as to survive in symbiotic relation with our environment. We can also make resolution to preserve our materials like dresses and other items we used to keep it more authentic and valuable. Example the “Kaang" that the use in the dance or “Puulraang kooi”.

Recording of Tyler Utt and Shobhana Chelliah eliciting tone words in Lamkang (N-P) with Sumshot Khular.

Recording of Tyler Utt and Shobhana Chelliah eliciting tone words in Lamkang (T-W) with Sumshot Khular.

Recording of Shobhana Chelliah and Tyler Utt eliciting tone words in Lamkang (A-B) with Sumshot Khular.

A traditional story as told by Bunghon Suungnem. In this story, the parents of five sons used up all their wealth purchasing brides and so have nothing to bequeath to them. The father tells them to obey the eldest son and work together to dig up 500 rupees he had buried and distribute it equally. After a few months of digging they are unable to find it, so they ask the eldest son what to do. He has them level the field, draw new boundaries and cultivate it. He assigns the highest plot to the youngest brother, then the next to the next-youngest, and so on. (b) Their neighbors include two lazy men who never work, but live off their wives. One wife tells her husband (the less lazy of the two) to go fishing. Instead of fish, he brings back some gold he finds in the water, and threatens to beat his wife if she does not cook it. She exchanges the gold for food and clothing. The other neighbor and his wife do not prosper, as the husband refuses to work.

This is an additional episode of the story of Sumphai and Rangleng as told by Sankhil Thampol Khularnu. Many years after Sumphai was sold away, the brother celebrated a Merit Festival called Totlang Kam (sometimes spelled Tortlang Kam). He wanted her to visit, so to get her to the feast he sent messengers to invite her. He told them to tell her that her he, her brother, had died and that she was called to the funeral. So, she does come to the place where the celebration was happening, but she was expecting a funeral. When she approached, nearing the village, bringing the best wine and goat, to what she thought was the funeral, she heard drum beats. When she listened carefully, they didn't sound like the beats from ceremony drum for the dead. And when she tried to dance the way of the death, she couldn’t make those steps happen. But when she danced the steps of merriment, she could do it. So, she realized that her brother was not dead, but that he was celebrating the Totlang Kam.

Theipaa leh rumnu paomin [The Story of Squirrel and Rumnu] as narrated by Sankhil Thampol Khularnu. Squirrel [Theipa] pretended that he fell down and hurt his scrotum and so could not walk. He therefore asked Rumnu to carry him in her basket which was full of fig-like fruit [didit]. When she carried him in her basket, he ate up all the figlike fruit and jumped out of her basket and ran off. She was so angry that she cursed him so that he would be trapped in the traps set by people in olden times. Then while he was running, an insect [Uisoom] caught him. So Rumnu asked Uisoon to please keep catching Theipa the squirrel. Rumnu said, “I will weave for you these kinds of cloth, a diphun, a vausen, a diir, a pundum, a kniksen, a yeb, a kniktxil. While Theipa was still in the grip so Uisoon, Rumnu then caught hold of him and beat him to her heart's content. So the story ends, but it is believed that this is how the weaving of different patterns and design of the present day attire came about.

Raapa Paomin [The Story of Raapa] as narrated by Sankhil Thampol Khularnu. This is a story about a young handsome man called Raapa. He was the son of a widow. He was known for his good deeds and for that people got jealous and tried to kill him in several ways. One time they hung him up in the middle of the sea to die, but to his great luck a bird called Chinraang came along wearing beautiful ornament called vori kangkool. This ornament is worn by Lamkangs today. When Raapa saw the bird he started to swing back and forth and sing. On seeing this, the bird came under his spell and wanted to ride the swing. The bird then requested Raapa to let him swing. Raapa allowed the bird to do that and in return the bird allowed Raapa to wear the vori kangkool. Raapa returned home wearing the beautiful ornament. The people there liked the ornament and when they asked him about it he responded that he got it from the sea and all the people rushed to the sea and died in search of a similar ornament. An old lady later came to ask Raapa why …

Recording of Tyler Utt and Shobhana Chelliah eliciting tone words in Lamkang (R-S) with Sumshot Khular.