Sikkimese people celebrate Barahimjong festival in Kadamtam village

With an aim to promote and preserve their culture, the Mangar community of Kadamtam celebrated one of the important festivals, Barahimjong in its own way in the village of Kadamtam.

Barahimjong is a gazetted holiday in Sikkim. 

Kadamtam is a village in the Pakyong district and falls under the Namcheybong constituency. The celebration was organised by the Kadamtam Barahimjong Committee which is the ward-level committee part of the All Sikkim Magar Association. 

Mangar community is also one of the primitive communities of the state Sikkim even though not officially declared and the process for its tribal demand is under process said Bishnu Rana, General Secretary, International Mangar Association. He also shows happiness over the construction of Mangarjong in west Sikkim and at the same time he also said that "we have done our paperwork and submitted it to the concerned department and we are hopeful state government will work for the tribal status also. 

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The chief guest of the event Gobin Thapa Mangar, Retired Additional Chief Engineer, Government of Sikkim said also said as per the historical documents Mangar has a history of 400 years old and ruled Sikkim in different time frames this can be traced from the books of Santosh Alley (Mangar). 

The celebration saw the traditional food stall, worshipping places and prayers offered by Samans of the Mangar community which is an important part of the celebration's cultural dances. A decent number of people gathered in their traditional attire today. 

During the festival, it was informed that Barahimizong is a festival observed by the Mangar Community in Sikkim. One of the most significant festivals for this tribe, it is celebrated as a day when the Mangar people come together to pay homage to their forefathers and kuldevtaas (ancestral deities) by performing various religious rituals and rites. 

In the Mangar language 'Barahi' means God, 'Minaat' or 'Mi' means worship or prayer and 'Zong' means fort it was informed by 

The first Barahimizong Festival was held in 1998 with the prime objective of keeping alive, the cultural and traditional heritage of the community. 

While JB Thapa, Retired Bureaucrat encouraged the younger generation to use the Mangar language as language is one of the important components of any community and he also informed that the Mangar language is moving towards its extinction so it can be protected only if we start using it. He also informed Sikkim has more than 30000 thousand Mangars at present. 

On the occasion a member of Zilla Panchayat Suman Rai, Aho Yangtam Gram Panchayat BS Mangar and Panchayat Senti Ward Chanra Rai, Kadamtam School Headmaster Indralal Dulal along with teachers and students were present.