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Dresses & Ornament ....

The traditional dress of the Singpho also bears significance. The woman folk wears Bukang (Mekhela)The breast being covered with Nungwat or methoni and the waist is tied with Chinket like Riha. The head being covered with coloured turban called Bum-Bam. Like woman the men also have their specific dresses. They wear Lasababu-Bupa or Baka(Lungi). The Turban is worn in a special technique. They bear Empheng a a side bag hanging from the shoulder and a sheathed dao (a long Knife) on the other shoulder. All the people wear home woven. clothes. Menfolk don't wear any ornament. On the other hand the woman wear "Khaichi (Necklace), Pat Lakan or Jangphal Keru (ear rings) and Silver Lakchawp as finger ring. The head of the Royal family sets tiger teeth on the Sheaths of the Dao.

Rice Beer, or Beer made from fermented boiled roots is not merely a favourite drink of The Singhpho, but also a sacred libation for the spirits.

Tea & the Singhph

It is a well known fact that Retd. Major of Marhatta Regiment of the East India Company, Robert Bruce came to know about the existence of tea in Assam from Singpho King Bisa Gam.The Singphos have known and drunk tea long before the Englishmen discovered it. Robert Alexander Bruce who is credited with discovery of tea, was given a concoction of Liquor by the Singpho chief Bishagam. He developed immense curiosity for the potential of the liquor and began working for it and thus was discovered tea. As the story goes, on refusal to pay royalty the followers of the Bishagam chopped off the tea bushes cultivated by the British & it was later discovered that after chopping of the hedges, tea leaves was better in their quality. The garden Beesakopic thus evolved from the word Besaikubua (Chopped by the Beesha) Is not it time we put the historical fact in its right perspective?