Shillong,April 10: The Shad Suk Mynsiem also known as ‘Dance of the Happy Hearts’ comes to a colourful end on Monday.
The three-day festival comprises of the traditional dance of the Khasi tribe in which unmarried maidens and men dance and salute the Almighty and also pay homage to the ancestors while proclaiming unity of the Khasis. It is organised throughout the Khasi Hills during spring time.
It is an annual spring dance festival performed to celebrate harvesting and sowing, when nature rejuvenates itself and mankind is filled with the hope of a rich harvest from the sown seeds.
The participants are unmarried (virgin) females and married/unmarried males were both men and women participate in this dance. It is a magnificent sight as one witnesses silver-clad men in their rich attire and women in their rich, silk garments wrapped with heavy gold, silver and coral ornaments danced to the to the accompaniment of traditional music..
The girls danced in the centre while the males danced around them to represent protection for the family and the community. Being a matrilineal society, the female is the centre of the well being and progress of the family and hearth.
The festival was organized for the first time at Weiking Grounds way back on 14th April, 1911. Later, it was also held at Mawkhar for a few years. The Ka Shad Suk Mynsiem dance is an integral part of Khasi heritage and is performed on the beats of drums, cymbals and piping sound of Tangmuri.