People in this Indian village have songs as their names
Instead of calling each other with regular names, people in Meghalaya’s Kongthong village call each other by a special song
Hyderabad: There are many interesting tourist places in India and Meghalaya’s Kongthong village must surely be added to your bucket list. And you ask why? Well, it’s because people in this unique place do not have regular names but call each other by a special tune, which is why the area is known as the ‘Whistling Village’ or ‘Singing Village’.
It is said that each individual has their own unique tune. Located in the East Khasi Hills district, which is about 60 km from Meghalaya’s capital city Shillong, people of this village also use whistling as a method of conveying their messages to their fellow villagers.
The song names are two versions — a long song and a short song. The short song is normally used at home. The villagers have called this tune ‘Jingrwai Lawbei’, which means mother’s love song. The songs are reportedly composed by the mothers after their child’s birth.
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There are around 700 people in the village, and hence 700 tunes. If any villager dies, the tune of that person will also die along with them. This tradition has been going on in the village for generations and is said to have helped the locals to have long-distance communication with each other.
Isn’t it quite astounding how the villagers have kept this tradition alive for so many years?
In 2022, the Ministry of Tourism selected Kongthong village UNWTO’s (The World Tourism Organization) ‘Best Tourism Villages’ award along with two other villages in the country.
