- Title
- Weaving stone of Toma during the Tuwachung-Jayajum festival
- Description
- This group of stones is worshiped by the Rai communities of the region as the stones on which mythological heroine Toma (also Toyama), the elder of two mythological sisters, used to weave. According to the myth of the two sisters Toma and Khema, and their younger brother Kakcilipu (as they are called among the Dumi Rai), the sisters invented the craft of weaving on the hill of Tuwachung-Jayajum. The offerings consist, amongst other things, of flowers, burning incense, rice, and colored powder. The stones are ritually surrounded by a white cottong thread. Parts of a traditional weaving gear are symbolloically placed on the stone for the festival day. The stone in the middle used to be much higher, but, according to local legend, was cut by treasure hunters who were insearch for so-called pullik beads. In former times, these beads had been given as burial objects and are considered very valuable.
- Keywords
-
ritual-type:animist>deity:Sacred Stone
researcher:Chatur Bhakta Rai
group:Rai>sub-group:Dumi Rai
researcher:Marion Wettstein
work-sphere:craft>process:weaving
ritual-type:ancestral>event:offering for the ancestors
group:Rai
group:Rai>sub-group:Chamling Rai
mythology:Creation Story>sub-story:Story of Toma Khema and Kakcilipu>mythological-figure:Toma
researcher:Alban von Stockhausen
ritual-type:ancestral>ritual:sakela dance
mythology:Creation Story>sub-story:Story of Toma Khema and Kakcilipu
ritual-type:hinduist
ritual-type:ancestral
- Location
-
- Country: Nepal [geonames.org, tgn]
- Province/state: Khotang [geonames.org]
- Municipality: Halesi Tuwachung
- City: Salle [geonames.org]
- Area: Tuwachung-Jayajum
- Area: Tuwachung-Jayajum>place:Toma worshipping place>deity:Toma
- Location: Tuwachung-Jayajum
- description author(s)
-
- Marion Wettstein
- von Stockhausen, Alban
