Phalee

Phalee Phadang
Village
Phalee Location in Manipur, India Show map of Manipur Phalee Phalee (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 25°08′33″N 94°17′02″E / 25.14250°N 94.28389°E / 25.14250; 94.28389Coordinates: 25°08′33″N 94°17′02″E / 25.14250°N 94.28389°E / 25.14250; 94.28389
Country	India
State	Manipur
District	Ukhrul
Population
• Total	3,742
Languages
• Official	Phalee Tangkhul
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	795144
Vehicle registration	MN
Nearest city	Ukhrul
Literacy	81.35%
Lok Sabha constituency	Outer Manipur
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Chingai
Website	manipur.gov.in

Phalee also called as Phadang is a village located west of Ukhrul in Ukhrul district, Manipur state in India. As per 2011 census,^[1] the village has a total of 794 households with 3742 persons of which 1934 are male while 1808 are female. Of the total population, 11.60% are in the age group of 0–6 years. The average sex ratio of the village is 904 female per 1000 male. The literacy rate of the village is 81.35%.Phalee is flanked by Ngaimu and Tolloi in the East, Somdal and Hoomi north, Tuinem and Lamlang in the south and Champhung and Tora in the west. The approximate overall size of the village is 84 sq.km. The village is assumed to be more than 700 years (approximate) since the first settler settled in relation to the current generation i.e. the Eighteen generation .

Organization

• Headman
• Village Authority
• PNBC
• Womens Society
• Shanao Long
• Phalee Consultation Conference (27 Years old)
• Yarnao Long
• Phalee Youth Organisation
• Phalee Football Clubs
• (Clan) Shangnao Funds
• Tang
• CYS

It is a small village which values democracy that is evidently clear from its diverse organizations within the village. It has its own customary constitution for their village functioning.

Religion and Educational Institutions

Phalee is one of the Tangkhul villages that embraced Christianity very early. For this, the villagers got access to western education right from the coming of Christian missionaries to Ukhrul district ^[2] .100% of the population are Christians.^[3] According to 2011 census, the literacy rate of the village was 81.35% which is higher than the state's average of 76.94%. ^[4].

People and Occupation

The village is home to people of Tangkhul Naga tribe.^[5] Agriculture is the primary occupation of the inhabitants. Rice, maize, potato, and cabbage are the main crops grown in Phalee ^[6]. The traditional farming system has been an integral part of this village livelihood since time immemorial and accordingly, it is closely interwoven with the intricate fabric of the society in culture, religions, and economy. The farming system covers wet paddy cultivation, slash and burn (jhuming) and the other allied agricultural activities comprising forest gathering, artisanship, crop festivals, kitchen gardening, domestication of birds and animals, fisheries, and rearing of edible insects ^[7]. Rearing edible six-legged insects like Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), honey bees, green grasshoppers, etc.

Most of these practices are social and community-based activity and their importance is pertinently expressed in their various culture. They are very old practices and the production system are generally trivial, merely a paltry self-sufficient to safeguard the basic level of survival. The agriculture system is stagnated which is proved by the unremitting abject poverty of the village life plagued with malnutrition, ill health and lack of basic amenities like telecommunications, transport, and marketing ^[8]. However, in recent year there is a tremendous improvement in the rearing of the domestic animal and bird and especially fishery, producing approximately 1000kg of fish (common carp and other local variety) per year. It is of one the village that upholds afforestation programme with Government agencies with huge success and one of the villages that planted the highest number of trees thus far ^[9].

Culture

Luira Phanit or the seed-sowing festival is perhaps still one of the biggest traditional festivals of the Tangkhuls Naga which are celebrated every year with great pomp and joy. This is a festival celebrated in every Tangkhul village at the beginning of the year though with some modifications now (the date of celebration differs from village to village), precisely to herald the coming of a new year and to commemorate the beginning of sowing the first seed for the coming year. This is the main agricultural festival of the year and its celebration spread over a period of about eleven days in the olden days though the celebration does not extend that much longer nowadays.

Since the advent of Christianity and in the years that followed, an understanding between the Christians and the non-Christians of this village was brought about in regard to the fixation of the date for its celebration wherein, March 15th – 20th of every year was exclusively set aside for this festival of which, hitherto it was usually celebrated a little earlier than this. So it's almost a week-long celebration and even now the intensity of the celebration is quite immense. Some of the competition items during the festival includes folk song (this includes Yarra Laa, Ngakhakva Laa and Phalee Awungashi Laa), folk dance, Luita Laa, high jump, long jump, wrestling, bamboo climbing, carrying rice pounding stick on the back, tug of war, trumpet, flute, violin, guitar and many more. Tug of war is one showpiece of an event that really captivates the hearts of the audience with equal numbers of men and women at each end of the rope trying to pull with their utmost strength ^[10].

The dying giant may not figuratively represent a human giant but it’s about the practice, tradition of carrying a giant load of paddy (Lengvei Kaphung) a popular age-old practice among Tangkhul Nagas during harvest time in Phalee village too, situated in the west of Ukhrul district in Manipur. Lengvei Kaphung is a challenge for all men of the village. A giant load of paddy tightly packed in traditional specially hand weaved shawls weighs more than 300kgs or 3quintals of paddy ^[11]. The handicrafts using bamboo sliver is another skill which is hand weaved into different shape and size of baskets for the different household purposes like containers, carpet and decorations.

References

4. Introducing village on climate change. e-pao.net › education › Science and Technology. 5. The reforestation of wasteland with wild edible fruit trees. e-pao.net › education › Science and Technology. 6. Snags of timeworn small farming system of Phalee village Manipur. e-pao.net › education › Science and Technology. 7. Phalee Luita Phanit Seed sowing festival oral tradition and cultural. e-pao.net › manipur › Festival of Manipur. 8. The Wet Paddy Cultivation in Hills of Manipur. e-pao.net › education › Science and Technology. 9.“Phalee”, a documentary film made by Yirmiyan Arthur as a part of the Panos Fellowship programme.UNPO: Naga: Culture on Display in Switzerland. unpo.org/article/9344 10.The documentary on “the dying giant” a popular age-old practice among Tangkhul Nagas during harvest time in Phalee village, Ukhrul district, Manipur.www.nagalandpost.com/ChannelNews/State/StateNews.aspx?news. 11. William Pettigrew (1869 – 1943). . 12. Colonialism, Reverend William Pettigrew (1869-1943), and the Coming of Christianity and Western Education to Manipurhttp://www.easternmirrornagaland.com/colonialism-reverend-william-pettigrew-1869-1943-and-the-coming-of-christianity-and-western-education-to-manipur/ 13. The YOUTH GUIDE to BIODIVERSITY. www.fao.org/docrep/017/i3157e/i3157e00.htm. 14. Food security: your questions answered | University of Cambridge. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/food-security-your-questions-answered.