About the festival: Sikpui Ruoi is a festival celebrated by the Hmar community. No particular date for the festival is fixed. It is celebrated at a convenient time during December and January.
In the olden days, celebration of Sikpui Ruoi would extend to several days and sometimes even a month. But usually, the celebration lasts for seven days. In olden days Sikpui Ruoi was not celebrated every year. In fact, it was celebrated only in the year of abundant harvest. Such a year was said to be a year of fapang ralinsan, when the granary was still left with the previous year’s yield at the arrival of the new harvest. Young men and women, would take out the preceding year’s yield and winnow the grain two or three months ahead of Sikpui Ruoi. On this auspicious occasion, everyone whether young or old, rich or poor dance in blissful harmony on a common platform.
The other name for Sikpui Ruoi is ‘Inremna Ruoi’ which literally means “a feast of Peace”. In the olden days, it was considered taboo to partake in the feast with a grudge against only fellowmen. In case any person harboured a grudge or had enmity with anyone, he must first rid himself of all those ill-feelings before the Sikpui feast. Thus, the feast brought a sense of harmony among all the people and it was this harmonious relationship that made the feast so unique.