Manmasi thla, Manmasi descendent

Hmar Origin


The Lost Tribe of Israel

This have nothing to do with religion - Several theories and views regarding the origin of Hmar starts way back in BC: The Hmar culture is depriving with its reach culture Folklore that have been pass from generation to generation that goes like this:

“Sikpui inthang kan ur laia,
Chang tuipui aw, senma hrili kang intan.
Ke ra lawn a, ka lei do aw
Sunah sum ang, zanah mei lawn invak e.
An tur a sa, thlu a ruol aw,
Inphawsiel le in ral feite zuong thaw ro.
Sunra zula, ka leido aw,
Ke ra lawn a,meisum ang lawn invak e
Sun ra zula, ka leido aw,
Laimi sa ang chang tuipuiin lem zova.
A varuol aw la t ache,
Suonglung chunga tuizuongput kha la ta che.”

In english
While we are preparing for the Sikpui feast,
The big red sea becomes divided.
As we are marching forward fighting our foes,
We are being led by a cloud during day;
And by pillar of fire during night.
Our enemies, ye folk are thick with fury,
Come out with your shields and spears.
Fighting our foes all day,
We march along as cloud-fire goes afore.
The enemies we fight all day,
The big sea swallowed them like beast.
Collect the quails,
Drink the water that gushes out of the rock.


G.A. Grierson placed under the Tibeto-Burman language. claimed that Manmasi was Hmar ancestor. The Bnei Menashe ("Children of Menasseh", Hebrew בני מנשה) are a group of more than 9,000 people from India's North-Eastern border states of Manipur and Mizoram who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.

Sikpui Ruoi is a festival of all the Hmars in general. Unlike the other public feasts and ceremonies like
• inchawng (a public feast given by a single individual or a family to ensure entrance to paradise),
• sahrang lumeng (a feast held when a large and dangerous wild beast is killed),
• ral lumeng (a feast held in celebration of a hero's successful return with the head of an enemy) and
• bu inei (a feast given to mark an individual's abundant harvest), Sikpui Ruoi does not signify an individual's achievements but the general prosperity as a whole.
The Sikpui Hla is self -explanatory and vividly refers to the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, and the events that followed before and after they crossed the red sea. The Hmar continued to celebrate this festival even after they had settled in different parts of north East India and traces of sacred stone slabs used in these celebrations can be seen in Manipur ,Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Asom till today. This has led some local scholars and even Jewish rabbinical theologians in Israel to believe that the Kuki- Mizo ,Chin groups perhaps be one of the lost tribes of Israel.

Sikpui Ruoi is that it is not celebrated every year. In fact, it is celebrated only in the year of abundant harvest. Such a year is said to be a year of 'fapang ralinsan', when the granary is still left with the previous year's yield at the arrival of the new harvest. Young men and women take out this previous year's yield and winnow the grain two or three months ahead of Sikpui Ruoi.

They then distribute the rice to every household in the village for brewing. This locally brewed drink is called rice beer or zu. On the day of the Sikpui Ruoi, every family in the village would bring their own share of zu, drink and eat together with wild abandon. Thus the name Sikpui Ruoi. The term 'Sikpui Ruoi' can also literally mean 'winter feast', 'sikpui' meaning winter and 'ruoi' meaning feast.

The all-embracing mood of the festival where everyone—rich or poor, young or old—can take part without any social inhibition is another distinctive feature of the Sikpui Ruoi.
On this auspicious occasion, everyone whether young or old, rich or poor dances in blissful harmony on a common platform

The wealthier ones did not hesitate to part with their fineries and they used to readily give away their best clothes to their less fortunate fellow men. We, the so-called 'enlightened' ones in spite of all our learning have a great lesson to learn from these pre-literate societies, where a harmonious relationship coexisted among all the people in times of their festivities. More often than not, we fail to spare a thought for our poorer brethrens even in our Christmas celebrations.