The impacts of Modernization on the traditional Sakawa Sili festival in the Rai Kirat community of Nepal: a case study of the Rai community

Abstract

Abstract. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the different aspects of the Sakawa Sili indigenous festival where the Sili dance is performed. Modernization and rituals theories are deeply observed to analyze my research questions. The main leading questions are: what is the importance of Sakawa Sili festival in Rai community? How it is celebrated? How is this festival affected by modernization and globalization? How do younger generations understand this festival? And how does this festival help to revitalizing the Rai’s culture? These questions will be addressed in this study based on research collected during fieldwork. Basically this traditional indigenous festival is a celebration of praying to the Goddess of nature for good crops and protection from the natural calamities. Its meanings lie in the movements of bodies and how the dancers respond. Viewer can feel its music, sounds, shapes and directions. Every movement has its own senses while performing the dance. This study focused on how these movements are influenced by modernization and globalization. It is visible during the festival period that participants move their body in different ways like fast, slow and mixed. However, the important thing is that it is a way of motions that is found in Kirati land from more than thousands years. Several questions are raised to question the knowledge about the festival such as history, origin, importance and its rituals values. Mainly in order to answers my research questions, several tools and techniques were implemented. Through qualitative data my research questions will be observed and the impacts of modernization in the festival will be analyzed. How the impacts of modernization and globalization could positively and negatively affect the ritual will also be observed from this thesis. Important aspects like its origin, types, importance, rituals values and cultural revitalization are also analyzed in this study. The study examines the impacts of modernization and the complex relationship with globalization. Research closely observed its impacts on the Sakawa Sili festival in multiple ways. This thesis also discusses the fundamental questions about rights of indigenous people, questions of self-determination, indigenous identity and power. However, this study focuses on the impacts of modernization on the festival and examines the impacts on cultural and rituals values in Rai Kirati indigenous community in Nepal.