Religion is not a prerequisite to be a spiritual person - Arnab Phonglosa
Born in a predominantly animist society of a tribal community called Dimasa in a town which was once a flourishing capital of the Dimasa kingdom, I have been brought up following each of the traditions and culture religiously. What I have observed closely over the years is the rationals that the people put forward for each the rituals and traditions that are being followed. Though their rationals might not not scientific, but at least it didn't leave me wondering "why are we doing it ?". For example: Dimasa builds a fence blocking the way of a groom approaching the bride's house for marriage and he must prove his identity and authenticity through several oaths. The ritual came into being through an incident which are inscribed in the minds of the people through a folklore passed through generations. The incident goes as such - there was a man who was going to the bride's home for marriage along with his entourage ( as is the ritual). There was an elf (Hasong in Dimasa parlance) who was charmed by beauty of the bride-would-be. On his way before the groom could reach the bride's house, the elf changed his appearance to that of the bride and took the bride away. Since then, the Dimasa people for the purpose of the testing the verisimilitude of the groom the procedure was followed, which eventually became a ritual that have been passed through generation. There are many other such beliefs or rather superstitious beliefs of the people. To cite another example people are advised not to see mirror at night and should cover it or it is forbidden to use a broken mirror. Well there might be some indigenous rational put behind this belief by the community at large which is unknown to me, I try to put my own reason behind it. The most logical reason I found out was that people might implant such beliefs to discourage people from activities that might harm the well-being of the people. In this case, holding a broken mirror can injure a person and at the same time, putting cosmetics (indigenous oils and stuffs) at night are scientifically proven to cause acne and pimples, hence seeing mirror at night is forbidden. Whatever may be the rational behind it, but the fact remains that such beliefs dissuades people from activities that might be harmful.
Religion and cultures/traditions are inextricable, whatever people might chose to believe! Dimasas has never gave a name/ term to refer to its own religion or sets of beliefs. While many people call such believes as animism, I find it derogatory. I would rather term it as "Daikhoism", for "daikho system" is the basis of faith among the Dimasas. It is widely seen among the tribes and communities of North East India vis-a-vis Dimasa, more and more are people are adopting foreign religions be it Christianity or Hinduism or any foreign religion for that matter. They chose to believe that Religion and culture can be separated as two different entities which I strongly disagree with. To cite an example many people believe that dance, dresses and food are only ones that makes up a culture. They chose to believe that celebrating a festival with fanfare is the only tradition. In my opinion, they are living in a fool's paradise, if they indeed believe so. There are rituals, there are traditions which are deeply entwined with the deity they worship. It is for the deity they worship, certain rituals are followed from birth to death. If you jettison your own rituals in reverence to your deity before a festival is celebrated, if you don't understand the significance of rituals in cremating the death, you are no longer a follower of Dimajadi or Dimasaism. I may seem orthodox in saying this but I opine that in a tribal community like Dimasa, the Dimasas are the one who follow- its own culture, its own traditions and its own religion. The concept of Dimasa-Hindu, Dimasa-Christian etc. are alien to me.
