Chailam
 Chai Lam performance at Chapchar Kut | |
| Native name | Chai Lam |
|---|---|
| Genre | Folk dance |
| Instrument(s) | Khuang (drum), seki (mithun horn) |
| Origin | Mizoram, India |
Chailam (Chai Lam), sometimes written Chai Lam or Chai dance, is a Mizo traditional dance performed by the Mizo people of Mizoram, India, most prominently at the spring festival of Chapchar Kut. According to oral tradition the dance originated when a hunting party returned empty-handed and the village chief, to console his men, organised an impromptu feast of zu (Mizo rice beer), at which the singing and dancing of the disappointed hunters became the first Chailam.[1] Men and women stand alternately in a circle, the women's hands on the men's waists and the men's hands on the women's shoulders, swaying together to the right, the left and toward the centre of the circle in time with the music; the musicians, playing the khuang (drum) and the seki (mithun horn), stand in the middle and the drummer effectively directs the tempo and length of the dance.[1][2] The vocal accompaniment is a Chai hla (Chai song), sung in chorus, and the dance has four recognised versions, designated Chai Lamthai I to Chai Lamthai IV.[1][3] Chailam is considered to have arisen out of the Chapchar Kut festival itself and remains the festival's defining communal dance. Like other pre-Christian Mizo dances it was discouraged by missionaries in the early twentieth century for its association with zu-drinking, but was revived from 1973 onwards as part of the wider recovery of Mizo cultural practice following the Indian government's expulsion of foreign missionaries in that year.[3][2]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "About Mizoram: Dances". Government of Mizoram. Retrieved 21 June 2026.
- 1 2 "Siahaah ropui leh urhsun takin Chapchar Kut hmang" [Chapchar Kut celebrated with great pomp and gaiety at Siaha]. Directorate of Information & Public Relations, Government of Mizoram (in Mizo). 1 March 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2026.
- 1 2 Lalhminghlui (2023). "Traditional Mizo Dance: An Ethnographic Exploration" (PDF). Senhri Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies. 8 (2). Pachhunga University College: 35–44.
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