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Journalism of Courage
One can trust Temjen Imna Along, Nagaland’s minister of higher education and tribal affairs, to promote the unique and colourful festivals of his home state. On Tuesday, he shared a video of the stone-pulling ceremony that is celebrated by members of the Angami tribe in Nagaland.
It’s interesting to note that after sharing an undated snippet from the stone-pulling ceremony, Along tweeted a 2021 video that showed villagers of the Kutsapo village in Nagaland’s Phek district coming together to pull out a truck from a 70-foot-deep gorge.
As the name suggests, the stone-pulling ceremony involves a collective ritualistic pulling of a large stone that weighs several tons. A massive stone is put on a handmade sledge that is made of vines and wooden sticks sourced from the forest. This stone is ceremoniously pulled to a few kilometres away by the men of the Angami tribe and installed at a designated place. Next, the stone is engraved with the details of the event as a remembrance.
All Angami villages take turns hosting the ceremony on a rotational basis. In recent years the stone-pulling ceremony has started coinciding with the Hornbill Festival.
There are many stories about the origins of the stone-pulling ceremony. One popular theory is that the day marks the commencement of Christianity amongst the tribes of Nagaland who have over the years accepted the Christian faith while retaining many tribal traditions as well.
