Lepchas
West Bengal Leaders Threaten the Lepchas
Political machinations in India’s West Bengal state are threatening the Lepchas, or so they feel, and they are responding, characteristically, with peaceful protests. The Telegraph, a major Indian newspaper, described the dispute on Wednesday last week. The issue revolves around the overall management of the Mayel Lyang Lepcha Development Board (MLLDB), which Mamata Banerjee, Chief […]
Radio Programs to Foster Spoken Lepcha
A community radio station in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal announced last week that it will begin broadcasting programs in the Lepcha language as soon as some Lepcha speakers can be trained in radio journalism. According to a news report, the Mayal Lyang Lepcha Development Board (MLLDB) is working with Salesian Radio at the […]
Champion of Lepcha Culture Dies
Sonam Tshering Lepcha, a major champion of the Lepcha culture, died at age 92 in Kalimpong on July 30. His death was noted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, and by a range of major Indian news sources. A tribute last week summarized his many accomplishments and […]
Lepcha Bongthing and the COVID-19 Demon
Curiosity about the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic to the peaceful societies led to a news report in a major Indian newspaper on April 10 which indicated that as of that date Sikkim had not yet reported any cases of the coronavirus. Sikkim, a small state in northeastern India, is the home of the Lepcha […]
The Lepchas: Organic Farmers
On March 18, Matteo Fagotto published an article in a news magazine that was partly a travel piece about his homestay with a Lepcha farmer in the Dzongu region and partly an investigation of organic agriculture in all of Sikkim. He points out that the famed organic farming in Sikkim has been championed vigorously by […]
Lepchas Celebrate Nature
An old Lepcha ritual honoring “Mother Nature” and its bounties was one of the focus points of a celebration called Muk Zek Ding Rum Faat in Pangthang, Sikkim, on February 23. A news story about the celebration published on the 26th used the gendered term for nature. The Sikkim Lepcha Youth Association, which organized the […]
Visit to a Lepcha Village
Many articles are published every week to serve the needs of travelers whose sense of adventure is limited to hotel and ship-board luxuries. Some publications, however, are worth careful study by travelers who want to learn about interesting societies and cultures. On December 14, Outlook India, a weekly news magazine from New Delhi, published the […]
Lepchas Support Chief Minister Banerjee
Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of India’s West Bengal state, has roiled the political scene in Northeast India by expressing her opposition to India’s National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Lepchas in the state have allied themselves with the Chief Minister in opposition to the controversial law. The NRC, a register of all citizens of […]
Sacred Mountain Protected After All
According to a news story last Thursday, the national government of India has changed its decision about allowing international mountaineering expeditions to climb Mt. Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest peak and a sacred spot for the Lepcha and Bhutia peoples of Sikkim. The government had announced back in August that the mountain would be open […]
Climbing the Mountain God
Quick, what is the third highest mountain in the world? Most lovers of geography trivia questions would know the highest—Everest—and the second highest—K2—but the third? The answer is a relatively lesser-known peak in the Eastern Himalayas, Mt. Kanchenjunga, located on the border of Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim. Even less well known, unfortunately, […]
