Performance of birth, marriage and death ritual: A study on Tamang Culture

Abstract

The research paper attempts to explore critically the socio-cultural issue of indigenous Tamang people, as represented in the photographs, ranging from birth rites to death rituals. It displays the traditions, customs and ritual system of Tamang communities. It, moreover, highlights the long-rooted cultural aspects of Tamang people, which is, sad to say, on the verge of extinction. This realistic and fact-based research foregrounds the significance and practice of indigenous heritage in the mainstream national culture. With the wave of modernization, Tamang cultural and social values are at stake in so far as the Tamang people are forgetting and disowning what lies in their roots. This research paper reminds one and all to go back to history and recollect their social, cultural and religious values, rituals, rites, traditions, norms and practices of Tamang people. It tries to examine the cultural tradition of Tamang community with the theoretical modality derived from performance studies selected for content analysis. The photographs exemplify the ritual performances of birth, marriage and death of Tamang people.