Day 9: Ziro to Daporijo

My God what a day! We left Ziro at about 7 and drove through some beautiful scenery on the way to the village of Raga, a heartland of the Hill Miri tribe. We got out and walked around for a little before being invited in to a family celebration in a local house where some members of the family had come home from as afield as Kashmir to attend. We gladly accepted and were promtly given seats by the fire and bamboo glasses filled with a potent drink made from mustard seeds called Poinia, and offered some Mithun, a ferocious-looking wild mountain cow. We learned that they were having a Puja (prayer ceremony) that occurs only once a year, sometimes less depending on the positioning of the stars. We were not at all prepared for what came next... we witnessed the live sacrifice of a wild pig, a pregnant Mithun, a goat (whose head was lopped off with an axe), some chickens and a dog. There was blood everywhere and I have to admit I felt more than a little shell-shocked!

As they stuffed leaves into the pig and prepared the Mithun liver, we drank down more Poinya and some Polo (a millet-based drink). We needed it! The Donyi-Polo priest sifted through the chicken liver pieces to foretell what fortune the coming year would bring. Our "glasses" were kept topped up at all times and we were treated as guests of honour. We sang and danced along with their songs and even got them to sing along with a verse of "With or without you" and "The Blaydon Races". We toasted with "Hijic", the local word as well as "Slainte". We left a little the worse for wear and whole lot richer for the experience. We promised to send them some photos and we were each given a Donyi-Polo necklace taken from around their own necks. We drove on through the fog and the darkness and reached Daporijo where we slept like babies. Without doubt I have never experienced a day quite like that!

- Dave