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A Lepcha Village in Sikkim

Joanna Kirkpatrick
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Boise, ID, USA Version of record first published: 01 Feb 2007.

To cite this article: Joanna Kirkpatrick (2007): A Lepcha Village in Sikkim, Visual Anthropology: Published in cooperation with the Commission on Visual Anthropology, 20:1, 87-89 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08949460601064580

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Visual Anthropology, 20: 8789, 2007 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0894-9468 print=1545-5920 online DOI: 10.1080/08949460601064580

A Lepcha Village in Sikkim

Balikci-Denjongpa, Anna. Tingvong: a Lepcha Village in Sikkim. Dawa T. Lepcha, cinematographer; Anna Balikci-Denjongpa, anthropologist and project coordinator; Asen Balikci, visual anthropology advisor. Produced by the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, Sikkim. DVD, 60 mins., color; 2005. Distributed by RAI Film and Video Library, Concord Video and Film Council, Ltd., Rosehill Centre, 22 Hines Rd., Ipswich IP3 9BG, UK. Tel: +44(0)1473-726-012; fax: +44(0)1473-274-531; e-mail: sales@ concor.des.co.uk
Tingvong is a village of the Lepcha people in the high Himalayas of northern Sikkim, near Kangchendzonga mountain, where the inhabitants two generations ago changed their mode of production from planting swidden fields of dry rice to the cultivation of terraced wet rice paddy. Historically, they also hunted deer or mountain goats and gathered vegetable foods. In the 1940s, they adopted growing cardamom as a cash crop, profits from the sale of which allowed them to spend more on cloth, cooking pots and kitchen tools, and religious rituals. In the late 1940s, they adopted Tibetan Buddhism, which they practice amiably along with their traditional shamanism. Today, they still roam the mountainsides to collect various medicinal and edible herbs, and catch fish by trapping them in woven, split-bamboo diversion nets. The film is divided into four main segments. It opens with a scene of high snow-covered peaks, then moves to a view of a Tingvong village yard, where women are processing rice, some pounding it in mortars, one person flailing, and a young woman wielding a winnowing tray. These opening shots introduce the first segment, Living Off the Land, in which we see the various seasonal stages of rice cultivation. One distant village still cultivates dry rice in the old slash-and-burn manner, so the filmmakers went to film the technique. This segment opens with an indoor scene of the villages former hunter, Apak Lepcha, and his wife preparing food. The film then cuts to the familymen, women, and little kidshiking up a hillside looking for medicinal and edible plants, which they put into the carrying baskets propped on the womens backs using a forehead tumpline. A young man in the rear carries a large rifle. (Why they bring the rifle, whether for protection against big animals or against human enemies, is not said. It is also unclear if they have completely stopped hunting animals.) The camera provides close-ups of small stinging-nettle leaves in a basket, and of large edible roots. Apak says that small nettle leaves are delicious when 87

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Media Reviews

cooked. We see a long piece of bark being stripped from a branch, referred to as rope. Back in their house, Apak shows his grandson his poison darts, saying they can quickly stop an animal. He says he took a tiny taste of the poison once and got sick for a whole day. Testing his bow, he says that guns were not available until about fifty years ago. He shows the boy how to hold the bow and pull the string. Next, Lepcha fishing technique is illustrated step by step as seven men prepare a woven fish trap that diverts creek water into a channel and down into a closed section of the mat. The next day they go to collect their catch, and soon they are eating pieces of fish steamed over the fire inside a wide piece of hollow bamboo. The rest of the fish hang above the fire to be smoked. We then see women and children climbing about the hillsides collecting huge bunches of leaves to carry home as fodder for the cows. Fade to Working the Land, the second segment. The history of village farming is conveyed through a conversation between the village padim (shaman), Merayk Lepcha, and the village lama, Gyatso Lepcha, perhaps two of the oldest men of the village. The lama explains how dry rice was planted, and the film then cuts to a steep, dry rice hillslope where planting is going on. The men punch holes in the ground, holding a long stick in each hand, and the women follow along putting a rice seed into every hole. The entire slope is dotted with holes. Gyatso Lama comments that if 20 women were planting, theyd be able to use up a whole basket of rice. As a view from above the field shows men and women working, we can see the contemporary wet rice terraces beyond in the background and splendid views of deep forested gorges below the dry rice field. Next comes the harvesting of cardamom, then a tarped-over shed under which we see a gigantic mound of it, with men and women shelling seed pods. Very old women work in the fields and shell cardamom as energetically as the younger women. A fire burns under the tarp as broad trays of cardamom are being dried there. This activity fades to wet rice terraces, meticulously showing the various steps of wet rice cultivation. This segment ends with the harvesting of ripe rice and a shot of little boys carrying large baskets of chopped firewood down the hill to their homes. Fade to the third segment, Village Buddhism in Tingvong. The two old men sustain the narrative again, this time about how Buddhism got started in their village. We then see little boys making wicks for oil lamps and women carrying offerings to the temple. (The subtitles do not tell us if this temple is in the village or off on a margin.) People prepare for the annual November Buddhist festival of blessing and protection for the village and for all beings. We see women providing offerings, offering foods distributed to the monks, and lamas chanting and playing musical instruments while women rotate prayer wheels and tell their beads. Lakbu Lepcha, the head lama, explains the significance of the rituals. The next ceremonials are masked dances performed by the lamas on the Sikkimese New Year (Dec.Jan.). The colorful dance performances and choreography are effectively shown by Dawa Lepchas camerawork. A scrolling text explains the function of these dances as preparing people for death and to be unafraid of it. The last segment of the film begins with a middle-aged widow, Dawkit Lepcha, telling the story of her husbands death as caused by revenge of a mung spirit from a tree that he cut down. Her story leads into the final segment of the

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film, The Padim, a Village Shaman. We are treated to a rousing three-day annual performance by the padim, Merayk Lepcha, as he chants, calling on the various deities to help the village and cure them of ills, meanwhile assisting a woman shaman initiate to learn the role. Many offerings and marigold garlands are made and strung up high in the shamans house, where he holds the ceremony. Food and lots of alcoholic chang are provided for the deities. They are continually called upon to come, eat, and drink. Finally, the padim offers curing to people lining up in front of him, blowing air on their bellies to rid them of evil spirits. The camera caught some amusing backstage touches among the audience during these rituals. In one ceremony we see a little girl tying the laces on her new sneakers as the padim throws chang and rice offerings into the air; in another we glimpse a little girl blowing up her balloon. During the shamanic ritual women are chewing something, and the young men are looking on stoically, if not indifferently, hugging their chests. The ritual ends with the padim joking and laughing as he blows on bellies to cure people and children of their illnesses. People are now standing, moving about, tensions are released, there are smiles and laughter. This major segment of the film is followed by a short bit on handling deaththe two old practitioners say that people may invite both of them to attend a funeraland a wedding ceremony. A beautiful altar with elaborate floral arrangements is shown but not explained. Who are the deities here? There are many offerings but no discernible images. Both the padim and the monks are presentthe monks looking bored while the padim is chantingand both perform ritual acts. The film fades with a scene of old women chatting and laughing. Tingvong succeeds admirably as a descriptive ethnographic report on the Sikkimese Lepcha way of life, its most important procedures and values. Thus the film would be immensely useful in introductory anthropology classes as well as in courses on shamanism and South Asian highland economic and environmental studies. The films subtitles are in large type and readable, translating the speech of the films subjects. Scrolling text also interpolates explanations where needed, but this strategy is not overdone. The filming technique is free of repetitive close-ups, and I appreciated the long takes that allow time to see actions in full as they are happening, and the absence of jump-cut gimmicks. Tingvong is part of a long-term visual anthropology training project for the tribal communities of Sikkim. It does not aim to exemplify ethnographic theory; it aims at descriptive ethnography as a document and a reflection of the Dzongu Lepcha villagers way of life. The producers, the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, have planned other short thematic films to use in their museum, while they have already archived more than 100 hours of film. Joanna Kirkpatrick Boise, ID, USA

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