POI PEE MAU 2119 (2024)

Poi Pee Mau - a New Year festival of the Tai Khamptis - is the celebration of the advent of a new dawn for the community to usher a fresh era of socio-cultural development. Poi Pee Mau Tai Khampti or the Tai Khampti New Year has become the biggest festival amongst the folks of the Tai communities in the world. Thus, the idea to give a chance through such celebration was conceived and brought up by the Tai Khampti Development Society (TKDS) of Namsai to celebrate the New Year day festival in accordance with the ancient Tai calendar. It usually takes place in November or December. The ethnic Tai Khamptis, under the influence of popular culture, had begun to give a second place to its own. Their own , songs, dances, dramas and literature took a back seat, the dress and customs were going out of use, their traditional games and sports almost forgotten, and so on. Under the banner of the TKDS and in collaboration with the Khampti Singphoo Council (KSC), the organizers took pains to revive the tribe’s culture, heritage, literature, music and way of life. The initiative and the foundation of the festival laid by the TKDS will help the Tai Khampti people, especially the youths, to propel themselves towards a modern, vibrant and developed society - a society that will be at par with any developed society of the world. To check these harmful bad habits which are easy to acquire but difficult to avoid, the initiative of the TKDS to organize the Poi Pee Mau to promote the Tai Khampti culture and tradition and thereby bring awareness and revolution among the Tai Khampti people, especially the younger generations, for all round development is appreciable.Poi Pee Mau Tai Khampti festival is one such way to showcase the cultural specialties of the community. It represents the cultural ethos, providing sustenance to it and ultimately promotes tourism and provides continuity to customs, tradition and culture. The festival also serves as an ideal platform for showcasing the splendour of the region with respect to its culture, practices, crafts and arts, and can effectively attempt to change the stereotypical notions about the district and the region as a whole.The celebration of Poi Pee Mau is designed in such a way that it will become a platform to develop and display the talents of the budding artists and writers of the society. It will also expose the tourism potential of the area to the outer world and help the unemployed youth get employment under the tourism sector. Organizing the festival will surely go a long way to inspire the youths to come forward and protect the identity and culture of the community - be it today, tomorrow or in the days to come. It also sustains the prospects of tourism and ultimately helps in strengthening the society, the state and the nation as a whole.