By Dominick Dauni Roising Rymbai
Hail, Mary, full of grace/The Lord is with thee/Blessed art thou amongst women/
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
So greeted the angel Gabriel to Mother Mary in the Gospel according to Luke 1:26-28. Being a virgin, with no relations to a man, Mother Mary had doubts. She replied, faithfully, that she was the Lord’s servant and the word would be fulfilled. Nothing is impossible for God.
According to the 2011 Census, Meghalaya state, has Christian adherents as the majority population at 74.59%. The Hynniewtrep and A’chik indigenous people follow the matrilineal system. It’s matrilineal, not matriarchal! Also, the society is not a typical patriarchy-laden set-up where women are generally, more or less, second-class citizens. Besides being sons and uncles, men play equally important roles as fathers.
Saint Joseph, a common man; a humble carpenter was plagued with doubts and fears. He had to rely on faith and respond accordingly to the divine messages sent through dreams. In spite of a non-consummate marriage, to remain betrothed to a pregnant Mother Mary and be a father to a child born of Immaculate Conception is unfathomable to an ordinary man. To be his chosen family’s protector, especially from the blue-blooded Herod’s threats and a responsible and participating parent to a young Jesus Christ was unthinkable. But he walked in faith and taught his carpentry trade to his son and enabled the latter’s livelihood.
It’s December. The Spirit of Christmas is all over the state far beyond Christmas Day – December 25. An image is revived. The image of the new-born Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in a humble manger at a humble cattle-shed or a cave-barn. He was surrounded by his earthly parents, witnessed by the outliers – the shepherds and their animals and, the three well-travelled and knowledgeable Magi with their gifts. If one has been to a cattle-shed, one will know the over-bearing pungent smell there. What an image, what a beautiful story, what a practical lesson on life! Oh, to be a humble practising Christian!
Studying in a missionary school (Khliehriat High School, a Don Bosco institution) in the early-1990s, the Catholic female and male hostelers attended the mandatory daily Catholic Mass (sometimes twice a day, too). There was no pressure whatsoever on the non-Christian boys and girls to convert. However, the Catholic boys and girls are/were supposed to serve as good examples. Also, the priests and nuns, neither discouraged nor encouraged, when one partakes in the cultural customs and traditions that defines a Hynniewtrep (native Pnar or War-Amwi speaker) person of the Jaintia Hills. The priests then, the Late Fr. Justin Lyngkhoi (Parish Priest) and the legendary Late Fr. Henry Fantin (Headmaster), didn’t frown on or disparage anyone if one spoke confidently of participation in the Behdienkhlam festival of Raij Jowai and Raij Tuber, including the rites and rituals of the respective clan grouping.
One of the extra-curricular duties for the male hostelers was cleaning the school’s toilets. The toilets are of Indian-style, built with concrete. A single concrete drain, leading directly from the straight-lined toilet cubicles to a septic tank, served as the waste disposal area. Blockages and overflow happened frequently during the monsoons. Cleaning up that mess would make cleaning the Aegean stables of Greek mythology possible. When complaints were raised to the Parish Priest and the Headmaster, the response was, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”. The character traits of the meek explained as humility, patience and emotional self-control, certainly not weakness. Now, who on earth is going to question the Gospel Truths, especially the Sermon on the Mount? However, on further questioning, the complainants were asked if they know the story of, how in his final days on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ rode a donkey into Jerusalem. The complaints persisted and ultimately, the final words. The very young petitioners were asked if they still remember the area and circumstances of the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The matter was, and still is, closed.
It’s Christmas time. No doubt, the winter chill does call for warm clothes and thicker blankets. Social media platforms are flooded with a lot of charitable acts. With algorithm-controlled addictive scrolling, the benevolent actions make one feel like an Uncle Scrooge of the Disney cartoon Duck Tales or Shylock from Shakespeare’s, ‘The Merchant of Venice.’ Of course, it is ethically and morally wrong to discount such big-hearted deeds. However, why just at Christmas time only? A once-a-year affair? Are we oblivious to our less-privileged brethren in the other 11 months of a calendar year? Or do we just remember to be Christians, to be precise good human beings, at Christmas time only? Or when tragedy strikes like the two-time COVID virus induced Lockdowns?
In Shillong city, a family of four with an annual income of Rupees 5-6 lakhs and a decent standard of living, will barely break-even with their monthly income and expenditure; and if possible, to have savings realised from austerity measures. What about the family that earns higher than Rupees 12-15 lakhs a year; plus, zero annual expenses of a few lakhs to cover house rent? Across the 12 months, will it be possible to share a small percentage of that disposable income with the children of the economically less-privileged? The children from our villages and the urban poor? It can be school fees, books, uniforms, a child-friendly renovated classroom in a Lower Primary school, even a smart classroom, the rare meat-treats of pork/chicken chow, a spring/monsoon and autumn/winter outings, etc? With assistance from the community, dedicated school teachers like Shemphanglin Khardewsaw and Batskhem Thabah have shown what the human spirit can do. The big-heartedness of Jiwat Vaswani is acknowledged by the community. Going to the uranium-rich Domiasiat village of the composite West Khasi Hills, a physically petite but a tough woman, the late Spility Lyngdoh Langrin, proved that money power cannot suppress the indomitable human will to serve the common good. Humbly and politely, she said No to uranium mining!
The first miracle, turning water into wine, at a wedding in Cana, Galilee was recorded in the Gospel according to John 2:1-11. Then and now, can one imagine running out of that liquid concoction at an important social function like a wedding. Imagine the embarrassment and shame to the host’s family. Mother Mary had faith. She asked her special Son to do something about the situation. On His mortal mother’s words, Jesus Christ made the first of His signs. And His hour was not supposed to have arrived yet. In our matrilineal society, a mother’s words carry a lot of weightage. We live and die in our mother’s name. From folk tales, it can be constructed, and also disputed, that we probably used to have female politico-administrative heads (Ka Syiem). A prime example being the legendary Ka Syiem Latympang of the Jaintia Hills. Most Hynniewtrep clans (Ki Kur Ki Jaid) have ancestral villages or places of origin. With migrations, a native village is considered the place where the mother permanently resides. In the Garo Hills, a woman, recognised as head of a particular clan (Mahari) with rights and power over the A’king (community) land and its natural resources, is given the village-head title of Nokma. Women, nurturers, care-givers, protectors and final-word mothers!
As per Catholic theology, being human, Mother Mary is not worshipped. Being the chosen Mother of the Son of God, she is venerated.
Holy Mary, Mother of God/Pray for us sinners (irrespective of our creed)/Now and at the hour of our death.Amen.
(Disclaimer: Views expressed are strictly personal)Email: [email protected])
