Society
Sherdukpen society is divided into two classes: The Thong and Chao, the former of which–the higher caste–are divided into eight clans. Marriage between castes are considered taboo within the tribal society and are strongly discouraged. Local legend mentioned that the upper caste are the descendants of a Tibetan king (a grandson of Songtsän Gampo) and Ahom princess, of which they bore two sons. The Chao are the descendants of the king's porters and servants. The Sherdukpens migrate to Doimara (a lowland hamlet close to the Assamese border) and stayed between December to March on an annual basis during the winter months, a tradition with which the tribe maintain the memory of their Assamese ancestry. In Doimara, the Sherdukpens mingled with the nearby Assamese natives and traded for rice.
The Sherdukpen generally practice monogamy and trace their descent patrilineally. Their houses are built on strong stone foundations with their wall and floor made from thick wooden planks.
Read more about this topic: Sherdukpen People
Famous quotes containing the word society:
“Laws, religions, creeds, and systems of ethics, instead of making society better than its best unit, make it worse than its average unit, because they are never up to date.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“It used to be said that, socially speaking, Philadelphia asked who a person is, New York how much is he worth, and Boston what does he know. Nationally it has now become generally recognized that Boston Society has long cared even more than Philadelphia about the first point and has refined the asking of who a person is to the point of demanding to know who he was. Philadelphia asks about a man’s parents; Boston wants to know about his grandparents.”
—Cleveland Amory (b. 1917)
“If we would enjoy the most intimate society with that in each of us which is without, or above, being spoken to, we must not only be silent, but commonly so far apart bodily that we cannot possibly hear each other’s voice in any case. Referred to this standard, speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)