Tuluni

A genuine pre-Christian agrarian tradition, still living among a now largely Christian community. The 8 July date is a twentieth-century standardisation rather than an ancient rule.

Tuluni falls at the mid-year point when sowing is finished and the fields are full but the harvest is still ahead — a festival of plenty in the middle of the agricultural year.

Seven days, each with its own name, covering communal road-clearing, food preparation, the ritual slaughter of livestock, feasting and visiting. Rice beer is central, and betrothed couples exchange gifts of food.

Seven named days of clearing, preparation, slaughter, feasting and visiting.

The mid-year fullness of the fields is celebrated before the harvest is certain.

A Sumi Naga festival of abundance, standardised to a fixed date by the Sumi Tribal Council in the twentieth century so that it could be observed in common.