When I first made my way to Basar, the district headquarters of Leparada, home to the Galo tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, for Mopin, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Excited, I entered the sacred ritualistic agricultural festival being celebrated on the community grounds, which strives to promote the idea of a unified and harmonious existence on earth.
Mopin is celebrated annually on April 5th with great enthusiasm and religious fervour across the state. As a district with an entirely Galo population, it is here that we observe the festival in its full grandeur. The Galos mainly worship Donyi-Polo and maintain animist traditions, and Mopin is historically situated within the same traditions. Some records date the festival’s origin to Bonpo culture, which existed in Central Asia and Tibet.
During my journey, I met Seni Riba, a former Anchal Samiti member who, along with his three grandchildren, drove me to the general ground where the Mopin celebrations were unfolding. His grandchildren were dressed in their traditional attire in white accented with geometric patterns in black, characteristic of the Galos, exhibiting their long-standing tradition and attachment to the Mopin festival.
As we entered the general ground, I saw a dedicated space for a sacrificial altar. A Mithun (bovine) had been sacrificed a day earlier to invoke Ane Mopin, the Goddess of agriculture, preserver of all vegetation, and the celestial teacher of Abotani (the ancestral forefather of all Tani tribes residing in central Arunachal Pradesh and the first man ever born), for a bountiful harvest season. The festival marks the beginning of the agricultural season for the Galos.
The Myth
The tradition of sacrifice began with Abotani, the first man on earth, who had long-standing strife with Takar Taji (a terrestrial being who lived separately in the spirit realm). Abotani, as the primary being, believed that all animals on earth naturally belonged to him. However, the Mithuns would often cross into the spirit realm. Takar Taji would then capture and sacrifice them. This angered Abotani, and his animosity towards Takar Taji led him to the heavenly abode of Ane Mopin. There, he saw that the land of Mopin was prosperous with food and wealth. He pleaded with Ane Mopin to teach him her ways, and in response she sent him back to earth with some seeds of paddy and maize. However, with no skills to cultivate, he returned to Ane Mopin and asked her for her daughter, Pinku Pinte’s hand in marriage instead. Ane Mopin consented to the marriage, and Abotani left for Earth with his bride. Together, they lived a happy, prosperous life where Pinku Pinte continued to till the soil and cultivate paddy. Soon after, Abotani married Rosi Tami (daughter of Diro, God of Famine). Rosi Tami brought with her the catastrophic great famine and ruined the harvests. Pinku Pinte was devastated and returned to her mother.
With famines starving everyone on earth, Abotani returned to Ane Mopin and begged her to let her daughter, Pinku Pinte, return with him. Pinku Pinte agreed on one condition: that he had to leave Rosi Tami. Abotani complied. He returned alone and set up images of Ane Mopin, dedicating himself to worshipping her. Back home, he invoked Ane Mopin, and she arrived with Pinku Pinte and other deities to restore the agricultural implements and seeds. Under Ane Mopin, Abotani learned the art of cultivation. His hard work made him prosperous, and thereafter Ane Mopin was worshipped and venerated every year before the sowing season began, with Mithuns sacrificed and offered to Ane Mopin in appreciation of her generosity and help. Thus, Mopin came to be.
Mopin as a Community Affair
As we walked toward the sacrificial altar, Seni Riba explained that the structures vary depending on the animals sacrificed during Mopin. We walked back to the numerous stalls set up around the ground, sharing Mopin greetings with everyone on the way. Many of their families living away from Basar had come to attend Mopin in their hometowns. Seni Riba added, “During Mopin, it is nice to have everyone in the family back home, and I am glad I get to take my grandkids around to show them how Mopin is celebrated.”
A procession on 5th April at Lower Siang district in Likabali town by all Donyi Polo believers of Galo community.
The celebration continues for the whole month. Credit: The Borderlens
The first Mopin celebration was formalised in 1966 under the chairmanship of Yimar Riba, student leader of Govt Higher Secondary School, Aalo. It was later resolved that Mopin would be celebrated on April 1st every year. Nyamar Ingo served as the first General Secretary, and Gotu Bagra became the first Nyibu (priest) to conduct the Mopin festival at a communal level on common ground. Eventually, in another meeting, the celebration date was fixed for April 5th and has remained unchanged ever since.Â
This year, Mopin was celebrated with just as much rigour and traditional gaiety as every other year, if not more. In the Lower Siang district, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein joined the celebrations and praised the Galos for zealously preserving their culture and educating their young about it. He added, “Nothing brings people together as festivals do”.Â
Changing Narratives
In contemporary Arunachal Pradesh, families are dispersed by their economic vocations. Festivals like Mopin have become crucial communal events, allowing families away from their hometowns to reunite and recontextualise their traditions and customs to suit their present circumstances.
Rice continues to hold a sacred place in every ritual. Among Galos, Ette (rice paste) is affectionately smeared on each other’s faces to bless one another and mark the beginning of the festivities. Locally brewed Poka (rice alcohol) is prepared weeks before the festival begins and is a communal event. Men and women, donned in their traditional attire, transform their textiles into symbols of collective identity.Â
Cultural activists and researchers in Arunachal Pradesh have noted significant structural transitions in these celebratory practices. As the festival was formalised and a single day was chosen to be celebrated as Mopin, they argue that the celebrations have become increasingly centralised. Celebrations are now organised on a large scale by district-level festival committees, turning Mopin into a display of wider Galo socio-cultural identity.
As one cultural activist explained, “Since subsistence agriculture is not an essential part of the people’s livelihood anymore, more people are migrating to the urban centres for employment. Mopin has metamorphosed from its original purpose of invoking Ane Mopin for a good harvest to a festival of wishing shared prosperity, fostering friendships and reinforcing community solidarity. These are natural evolutions, and such changes are not just imminent but also necessary.”
Today, Mopin celebrations are accompanied by competitions in folk songs, dance, storytelling, and folk narratives, further reinforcing the community’s obligation to protect its tradition. It provides a way for the younger generations to learn and reimagine their culture in ways they enjoy, which might otherwise remain redundant and insignificant in their lives. These festivals have materialised as cultural tokens that embody Galo identity and, in doing so, have restored their origin and ensured continuation. In a world that advocates, “Loss of culture is loss of Identity”, the Galos, through their narratives of belonging, and celebrating Mopin with the same fervour, have epitomised Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s famous quote, “Culture does not make people, people make culture”. And culture, like any other form of social inheritance, constantly changes and adapts to the needs and aspirations of the people it belongs to.Â
We concluded the day with some juice and snacks from the ground’s stalls. Seni Riba’s youngest grandkid had fallen asleep in the midst of a day-long celebration, and the other two seemed clearly exhausted. Despite that, I am certain Mopin will always be reminiscent of the warmth of their grandfather and a shared sense of belonging. And although it might not be an accurate representation of what Mopin was about, it is everything that Mopin now represents.
