Another Matriarchy

 

The Matriarchal Garo of India

 from Rasa Von Werder

 

It seems to me there’s a great cover-up re Matriarchal & Matrilineal information.  What we get mostly is the Mosuos in China & little else.  But upon further research I see so far, two American Indian groups are Matriarchal {possibly all of them are, these are just the ones I saw on Peter Santenello’s Podcasts where the intervied claims the women ruling} – there are African such societies, there are others.  So just now I find this – never heard of it before.  Mind you, the Patriarchs want us to believe THERE IS NO SUCH THING, if it exists, it’s on its way out as the Patriarchy invades it & swallows it up. They want us to have no keys, icons or examples for more Matriarchies to be spawned.  Fie on them.  

Orientation

Identification. The Garos living in the East and West Garo Hills districts of Meghalaya in northeastern India speak the Garo dialect. They are one of the best-known matrilineal groups in India. Here the Garos are not just another aboriginal tribe—they are the major aboriginal tribe. Others are the Hajong, the Koch, the Rabha, the Dalau, and the Banais who reside on the adjacent plains of the neighboring district. There remains an obscurity about the origin of the word "Garo." They are known as "Garos" to outsiders; but the Garos always designate themselves as "Achik" (hill men). The Garos are divided into nine subtribes: the Awe, Chisak, Matchi-Dual, Matabeng, Ambeng, Ruga-Chibox, Gara-Ganching, Atong, and the Megam. These are geographic subtribes, but they are also dialectal and subcultural groups. According to their beliefs and religion, the Garos are divided into the "Songsarek" (those who follow indigenous beliefs and practices) and the Christians.

Location. The two Garo Hills districts are situated Between 25°9′ and 26°1′N and 89°49′ and 91°2′E, covering an area of 8,000 square kilometers. The districts border Bangladesh on the south and west and Assam on the north. Hills cover most of the district, with some adjacent fringes of plains bordering the monsoon area, producing thick vegetation on the hills. There are a number of hilly streams and rivers; Except for the Simsang River, which forms a wide floodplain, none is navigable.

Demography. According to the census of India for 1971, Garos numbered 342,474. Christian Garos were 54.3 percent of the total Garo population; now they may be more than 60 percent of the total Garo population.

Linguistic Affiliation. According to Sir George Grierson's classification in The Linguistic Survey of India, Garo belongs to the Bodo Subsection of the Bodo-Naga Section, under the Assam-Burma Group of the Sino-Tibetan or Tibeto-Burman Language Family.………………………………………………………..

Rasa says:

Wikipedia has a great account of this – the part where they say matrilineal is NOT to be confused with Matriarchal, take that with a GRAIN OF SALT.  The PROPERTY of the Mother is automatically handed down to the youngest daughter – which is the OPPOSITE of patriarchy.  It was partially through men handing down all their property to SONS instead of wives & daughters that disempowered women financially & put money & property into the hands of men.  This transaction put WOMEN on bended knees to get resources.

Notice that the English ‘East India’ trading country came & invaded these people by FORCE OF ARMS:  Artillery, canons.  How could the men defend their community with primitive weapons?  And of course, the religious indoctrination / brainwashing follows.  What is the reason for the religious interference?  Same as always.  Take away THEIR IDENTITY, the holding on to who they are, what they believe from their ancestors.  Tell them they’re stupid, they don’t know what God is, impose on them our ideas, which are superior.  We know God, they don’t.  Make them feel INFERIOR & INADEQUATE in their beliefs, get them to feel insecure, take away their confidence, their birthright identity, their righteous pride.  Make them grovel to us, feel inadequate to us, obey us:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garo_people#:~:text=Garo%20is%20a%20matrilineal%20society,been%20greatly%20influenced%20by%20Christianity.

Some of the article:

The Garo people are a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group inhabiting predominantly in Northeast Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura and Nagaland, and in some neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Historically, the name Garo was used for a large number of different peoples living on the southern bank of Brahmaputra river, but now refers primarily to those who call themselves A•chik Mande (literally "hill people," from A•chik "bite soil" + mande "people") or simply A•chik or Mande and the name "Garo" is now being used by outsiders as an exonym.^[4] They are the second-largest tribe in Meghalaya after the Khasi and comprise about a third of the local population.

Religion similar to Wicca {says Rasa}

Many of the Garo community follow Christianity,^[5] with some rural pockets practising traditional animist religion known as Songsarek. It is argued that the indigenous groups who settled in the Garo Hills brought their ancient animistic religious beliefs and practices, with deities who must be appeased with rituals, ceremonies and animal sacrifices to ensure the welfare of the tribe. 

 

Most Garo festivals are based on the agricultural cycle of crops. The harvesting festival Wangala is the biggest celebration of the tribe happening in the month of October or November every year. It is the thanksgiving after harvest in the honor of the god Saljong, provider of nature's bounties.

History

According to one oral tradition, the Garo first migrated to the Garo Hills from Tibet (referred to as Tibotgre) around 400 BC under the leadership of Jappa Jalimpa, crossing the Brahmaputra River (Songdu Chibima) and tentatively settling in the river valley. The Garo finally settled down in Garo Hills (East-West Garo Hills), finding providence and security in this uncharted territory and claiming it as their own.  {Below:  They call them 'brutal' & BLOOD THIRSTY SAVAGES?  It is YOU WESTERNERS who came here, invaded them with guns & cannons.  Who is brutal & blood thirsty savages?  You - not them.  All they did was defend themselves with primitive weapons.  And you FORCED your religion on them.  YOU are the EVIL ONES.} Records of the tribe by expanding Mughal armies and by East India Company officials in what is now Bangladesh wrote of the brutality of the people.

The earliest written records about the Garo date from around 1800, and were written by officials of the East India Company. They "...were looked upon as bloodthirsty savages, who inhabited a tract of hills covered with almost impenetrable jungle, the climate of which was considered so deadly as to make it impossible for a white man to live there".^[9]

In December 1872, the British Raj dispatched a military expedition to Garo Hills to establish control over the region. The campaign was conducted from three sides – south, east, and west. The Garo warriors (matgriks) confronted them at the Battle of Rongrenggre equipped with spears, swords, and shields. They were defeated in the engagement, as the Garo did not have guns or mortars like the British Indian Army.^{[citation needed]} By the early 1900s, the American Baptist Mission was active in the area, working from Tura, Meghalaya.^[10] 

The Garo are one of the few remaining matrilineal societies in the world. The individuals take their clan titles from their mothers. Traditionally, the youngest daughter (nokmechik) inherits the property from her mother. Sons leave their parents' house at puberty and are trained in the village bachelor dormitory (nokpante). After getting married, the man lives in his wife's house.

Professions:

The Garo rely on nature. Their profession is hunting and warrior known as Matgrik. They practice jhum cultivation which is the most common agricultural tradition. For more than 4,000 years, until modern times, the Garo have been practicing jhum cultivation. Since the middle of the twentieth century, most Garo work in private industry or have government jobs. There is coal mining in the area, {this could explain why the East India-British Company INVADED these people with force of arms, murdering some of them, in order to gain the coal industry.  I would like to know who in what way, runs the coal business.  No doubt Westerners, stealing all the profits & leaving the people as slaves underground, doing all the hard & dangerous work} as well as the cultivation of bananas and other fruits.

Rasa says:  notice the INTERFERENCE with their culture.  It’s now all English due to invasion & colonization.  When the Russians took over my country, Lithuania, in WWII, Russian became the official language in school.  When my cousin visited from Lithuania she spoke fluent Russian as well as Lithuanian.  Of course, since our independence in 1991, the Russian impositions ended.  The interference is endless, I’m sure this article doesn’t cover it all:

Continue Wikipedia:  The Garo language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. The brief lists of Garo words were compiled by East India Company officials in 1800, and Garo acquired a Latin-based spelling system during the late 19th century, devised by American Baptist missionaries and based on a northeastern dialect of Garo. The first translation of the Garo Bible was published in 1924. The modern official language in schools and government offices is English.