Imoinu Iratpa or Emoinu Iratpa or Wakching Taranithoini Pānba is a religious

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

celebrated by the

Meitei people The Meitei people, also known as Meetei people,P.20: "historically, academically and conventionally Manipuri prominently refers to the Meetei people."P.24: "For the Meeteis, Manipuris comprise Meeteis, Lois, Kukis, Nagas and Pangal." are a Ti ...

. It is a festival of lights dedicated to the goddess of wealth and prosperity, Imoinu Ahongbi. The festival is celebrated on the twelfth lunar day of Wakching month of

Meitei calendar The Meitei calendar () or the Manipuri calendar () or the Kangleipak calendar () or the Maliyapham Palcha Kumshing () is a lunar calendar used by the Meitei people of Manipur for their religious, agricultural and other cultural activities. New mo ...

. The festival is celebrated in

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

and

Tripura Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

in North Eastern India and observed by some in the neighboring

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The festival involves sacrifices and prayers to the goddess, followed by various other cultural events.

Etmology

''Iratpa'' means "sacrifice" and ''Imoinu Iratapa'' translates to "sacrifice to the goddess Imoinu" in

Meitei language Meitei (; ) also known as Manipuri ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and an additional official language in four districts of Assam. It is one of the scheduled ...

. The festival is also known as ''Wakching Taranithoini Paanba'', which translates to the "twelfth day of Wakching" (''Taranithoini'' meaning "twelfth day" and ''Panba'' meaning "to be"), referring to the day on which the festival is celebrated.

Background

The festival is dedicated to mother goddess Imoinu Ahongbi. Goddess Imoinu or Emoinu is considered as the goddess of wealth and prosperity, peace, wisdom, vitality and resources. Imoinu is believed to be an

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...

of Leimarel Sidabi, wife of Supreme God Sidaba. Leimarel Sidabi is the first woman and she created the second Leimarel, who was to take care of the human beings on

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, who was named as Imoinu Ahongbi. According to a Meitei mythology, goddess Emoinu visits earth every year on the day and visits every home to shower her blessings. According to Meitei history, the worship of Emoinu began in the fifth century CE when the royal family worshiped the goddess and later by the 15th century CE, the common people also began to worship her.

Occurrence

Imoinu Iratapa is celebrated on the 12th of lunar day of the Wakching month of the

. It usually falls on the month of December-January in the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

Observance

Imoinu Iratapa is a festival of lights, celebrated by the

following the traditional religion

Sanamahism Sanamahism , also known as Meiteism , or Lainingthouism is an ethnic religion of the Meitei people of Manipur, in Northeast India. It is a polytheistic religion and is named after Lainingthou Sanamahi, one of the most important deities of ...

. The festival is also observed by Meitei people, who follow other religions such as

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. The festival is celebrated in

and

in North Eastern India. It is also observed by some of the people settled in the neighboring

. It is a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Types Civic holiday A ''civic holiday'', also k ...

in Manipur.

Practices

During the festival, people offer

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

vegetables Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including flowers, fruits, ...

fruits In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

and

sweets Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum, and sugar can ...

to the goddess Imoinu. At night time, people light

candles A candle is an ignitable candle wick, wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a Aroma compound, fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. ...

and other decorated lights are put up in the streets. A good meal with fish curry as the main dish is offered to the deity at the ''funga lairu'', the traditional fire place in the kitchen. Apart from worship at individual homes, various rituals are also organized at the community level. The day is marked through prayers to the goddess, followed by various other cultural events. It also features a religious procession the night before the formal prayers. The procession is led by Maibas and Maibis, wherein the idol of goddess Imoinu is taken to Meitei households amongst song and music. The people perform music from the traditional musical instrument '' pena'' and traditional dances like ''

Khamba Thoibi The ancient legend of Khamba and Thoibi () is a classic, as well as one of the epic cycles of incarnations of Meitei mythology and folklore, that is originated from Ancient Moirang kingdom of Ancient Kangleipak (early Manipur). It is referr ...

'' and '' Maibi Jagoi''. Tales about the goddess Imoinu are told and songs are sung invoking the deity. Traditional

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the pres ...

performance of '' Thang-Ta'' using a

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

(''Thang'') and a

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

(''Ta'') is also performed. Since 2022, a fish fair or fish festival is being organized as a part of the festival, in the days leading up the main festival day. The Emoinu fish festival is conducted to procure the necessary fish for the festival and encourage

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

References

{{Public holidays in India Meitei festivals Religious festivals in India