Si-Donyi festival celebrated with religious zeal and traditional merriment in Arunachal Pradesh

• 1/4

Si-Donyi festival of Tagin Community celebrated with great enthusiasm at Si Donyi ground in Naharlagun. Rajya Sabha MP,  Nabam Rebia and Itanagar DC Talo Potom attended the festival as Chief Guest and Guest of honour. 

Si-Donyi, the major festival of Tagin community, was celebrated across the State on January 6 with religious fervour and traditional gaiety.

Tagin refers to a tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, which is a member of the larger designation of Tani Tribes. Most Tagins are concentrated in Daporijo, Upper Subansiri district but some are also found in adjoining parts West Siang.

In 1971, about 20,000 people claim to be of Tagin ethnicity. Tagins are generally adherents of Donyi Polo, although two groups of Tagin–the Naa and Mra have come under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. 

The Mra of Limeking Circle, along the Indo-China Border are not to be confused with The Mara of Taliha Circle. In case of The 'Mra' community, the adherence was never religious but cultural in small measure and in recent years they have almost completely converted into Christianity.

Tibetan Buddhist influence among the Naa sections of the Tagin was a result of migration of Tibetans from the north in the 18th century as well as visits by Buddhist missionaries of the Nyingma sect who paid tribute to the chiefs as a result of Tibetan settlement in their land.

The most important festival of the Tagins, Si-Donyi, involves the veneration of the earth(si) and the sun(donyi).