Ritual wedding to save villagers’ lives

By Raju Lamichhane,Rukum West, Jan. 31: A beautiful pond, Sankhadaha, is located in the middle of Sankha village of Musikot Municipality-7 in Rukum West district.  The Sankhadaha separates two settlements -- Mathigaun and Taligaun. 

This year, Mathigaun asked Taligaun for the hands of their girl and concluded the ritual wedding ceremony. 

As per the custom, the marriage that consists of various rituals like finding the bride, taking the marriage procession, bringing the bride home and throwing a marriage party concludes in three days. 

Each year, it is customary to go to ask for the hands of girl on the evening of Magh 14, take the groom with a marriage procession to the bride’s home on Magh 15 and return home with the bride in the same evening. 

This is not real but a fake marriage. Locals organise it as a part of Papini Mela every year. Both bride and groom are young boy and girl.   

The marriage ceremony is performed according to the tradition. Both the girl and boy are dressed like bride and groom. 

Yakka Bahadur Pandey, Ward Chairperson, said that the marriage ceremony is celebrated for three days with fanfare, but all the procedures are dramatic. The bride and groom are also fake. 

The parents of both parties, the people who get married and the people who attend the banquet, are all unmarried girls. These girls are called ‘Papini’.

Ward Chair Pandey said that the girls who have preserved the tradition are named ‘Papini’. To be a ‘Papani’, one should be from the tribal community, unmarried and should possess dancing skills.

“The girl who sustains the customs of the village is called ‘Papini’. The question as to why the girl, who has been following this practice for ages, is called ‘Papini’ remains unanswered,” said Pandey.  

Lal Bahadur Mahat, a local leader, said that this culture is more of a tradition than a compulsion. 

The practice of dramatised marriage started in Sankhadaha at the beginning of human settlement in Sankh. According to Mahat, it is widely believed that people will die in the village if they do not continue the dramatic weddings. 

Every year, two villages of Sankh prepare the ‘Papini’ and follow the tradition. 

Hitting by nettle (Sisno) and paying a fine 

There is also another tradition of hitting the visitors with stinging nettle and paying fines at the Papini fair. Under the guidance of the ‘Papini’ leader, the process begins from Magh 1. Papini of Taligaun stays in the lower edge of the pond and the Papini of the Mathigaun village stays in the upper edge every night. During this time, it is customary to make a fire, and play with stinging nettle and dance.

The girls stay at every entry point of the village to welcome the guests, mostly men, who come to the fair. They catch each man and hit them with the plants of stinging nettle. If the men cannot escape the girls, they have to pay a fine.

The fine collected thus is spent to manage the marriage. Various cultural and sports programmes are also organised in the fair.