Tuluni
is a festival of great significance . This festival is marked with feasts as the occasion
occurs in the bountiful season of the year. Drinking rice beer indispensably forms as part
of feast. Rice beer is served in a goblet made with the leaf of plantain. This wine name
is called TULUNI. Therefore, consumption of the wine is called "TULUNI". Tuluni
is also called "ANNI" the word of which denote the season of plentiful crops.
This midyear (July 8) festival is the greatest and most fervent moment for the Sumi
Community of Nagaland.
During this festival, betrothed exchange the basketful of
gifts with meals. Fiancé is invited to a grand dinner at the fiancées residence.
Even siblings of the families of both the bride and groom exchanges dinner and packed food
and meats.
It is a time of joy even for the
baby-sitters. On this day they are fed generously with food and meat. Cultivators usually
work in groups and specially for Anni (Festival) they keep budged with either pigs or cows
are procured and the butchered animals are shared among the members. The served meat is
used for group feast. In the midst of the feast group leaders gets extra offer of meat by
way of feeding them by others. Each working group consists of 20 to 30 in number which
includes several women too. The new recruits are also made to add the group at this grand
feast.
The Betrothed are settled at this period. The fervours of
feast is synchronised with a chain of folk songs and ballads.
Sumis have two different
clan-heads, viz. Swu (Sumi) and Tuku (Tukumi). By virtue of two separate clans the gennas
and rituals differs between Sumi and Tukumi. Among all other festivals and gennas,
Sumis in general accepted the festival of Tuluni as the most grand and important one.
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