SSC
The tribes of the Nicobar Islands honour their deceased family heads during which ceremonial feast?
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Answer: Option C — Ossuary feast
Detailed Solution
The Nicobarese people of the Nicobar Islands hold an "ossuary feast" (also called the Pig Festival) to honour their dead, especially the deceased heads of families. It is one of the most important ceremonies of the Nicobarese, and it is held some years after the death of the person.
An ossuary is a place where the bones of the dead are kept. In this ceremony, the bones of the deceased person are exhumed from the grave, cleaned, and then buried again or placed in a common ossuary, with rituals that are believed to help the soul of the dead person find peace in the afterlife. The ceremony is a way of honouring the ancestors and maintaining the bond between the living and the dead. It also marks the end of the period of mourning for the family.
The feast is an occasion for the whole community to come together. Preparations for the feast may take many months. Pigs, which are highly valued by the Nicobarese and are a symbol of wealth, are reared for the occasion and are slaughtered for the feast. The festival includes music, dancing, singing, pig fights, wrestling, canoe races and the exchange of gifts between families and villages. It may last for several days.
The Nicobarese are the largest tribal group of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They live in villages on the Nicobar group of islands, such as Car Nicobar, Nancowry and Great Nicobar. They traditionally live in joint families called "tuhet", under the leadership of a head, and they live in beehive-shaped huts built on stilts. They are known for their skill in making canoes, and their economy is based on coconut cultivation, fishing and pig rearing. The other tribes of the islands include the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa and Sentinelese (in the Andaman Islands) and the Shompen (in Great Nicobar).
Why not the other options?
- ✗Harvest feast is not the name of this ceremony for the dead.
- ✗Canoe feast: canoe races are held during the feast, but it is not its name.
- ✗Spring feast is not the name of this ceremony.
Quick tip
Remember: The ossuary feast (Pig Festival) = the Nicobarese tribe and the honouring of deceased family heads.
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Festivals & Fairs of India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Festivals & Fairs of India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the religious, harvest, tribal and cultural festivals of India, the fairs (melas) held across the country, and the states, communities and seasons linked to them. It also includes festivals listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, such as Kumbh Mela and Durga Puja in Kolkata. Most questions ask which state celebrates a festival, which tribe it belongs to, or what event it marks. Harvest festivals are especially common: Pongal (Tamil Nadu), Onam (Kerala), Bihu (Assam), Lohri and Baisakhi (Punjab) and Nuakhai (Odisha). Fairs such as the Pushkar camel fair (Rajasthan) and the Sonepur cattle fair (Bihar) are also frequently tested. Revise festivals state by state. Practise the festivals and fairs questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.