Wangala celebrated

The main ritual programme started on Thursday night. In the worship ceremony the tribal people made the structure of Middi Misi Saljong with bamboo frame. The Tribal leader was the chief of the ritual. Each and every family of the community sacrificed fresh crops like rice and vegetables of the harvest at the foot of the image of the deity. They also arranged Chu, the locally made rice-wine, which tastes like beer. With Chu the Mandis enjoyed the taste Wak (pieces of pork fried in the lard of pig) and Do (specially cooked chicken).

Foreigners as well as Bangalees went over to enjoy the festival. The tribal leader entertained their guests with traditional food. Guests enjoyed the local dance of the Mandi people. Two Australian anthropologists were also present at the occasion. They were shocked to see the deforestation of Shalbon forest made by the dominating Bangalee community over there. They said, 'If the forest is cut down in such a rate, the transcendentalists community will lose their existence. Few years earlier when we visited the area, we saw many Shal trees but at present the number has come down dratically.' Poet Mohammad Rafiq, a renowned poet said, 'We should take steps for the preservation of decaying Mandi language. As the International Mother Language Day is observed all over the world, so they have the right to speak in their own language.'

BBC documentary team was also there for purposes of preservation of the wonderful heritage of the tribal people.