reunion. Moreover, apart from the husbands of the women so invited, a group of young men and women, who can sing and dance, is expected to accompany each of them. No formal singing, dancing and drumming contests are organized, but the congregation of many singers, dancers, and drummers from different villages, in addition to the ones in the village, turns the festival into some kind of a friendly music and dance tournament, as it were. This has an amplifying effect on the air of joy that the festival exudes. The sole responsibility for organizing the festival is vested in a body of young men and women, called Meembir-yamey (literally, ‘young women-young men’). The organization is run with a good degree of discipline, following the provisions of an unwritten but well-respected code of conduct. Erring individuals are given hearings and penalized if found guilty. Another occasion called Dobur is an animistic rite performed occasionally by the village community by sacrificing a sow and some hens for different purposes, such as to avert a likely crop failure and ensure general well being of the community, or to avert the evil effects of a wrongdoing on the part of a member of the community, etc. The form of observance of Dobur varies according to the purpose. In the most common form, the younger male members of a village beat the walls of every house in the village from one end to the other with big sticks to drive away the ghosts and goblins hiding in nook and corner and perform the sacrificial rite at some distance away from the village, and hold a feast there. Anyone passing unwittingly through the venue of the rite has to stop in the place till evening or pay a fine. Some of the features of Bihu dances, boys and girls dancing together for instance, may have been borrowed from the Misings. Notable people Indira Miri, Indian educationist. Shakuntala Doley Gamlin, IAS officer. Ganesh Kutum, politician. Naba Kumar Doley, politician. Tabu Taid, Indian author. Jadav Payeng, environmental activist. Bhubon Pegu, politician. Lalit Kumar Doley, Indian politician. Mrinal Miri, Indian philosopher. Bharat Narah, politician Rajib Lochan Pegu, politician Tarun Chandra Pamegam,Writer See also Takam Mising Porin Kebang References External links Mishing Autonomous Council (MAC) Societial adaptation to environmental changes: natural resources management and shifting definitions of territory among the Mishing tribe in the Brahmaputra River floodplain (Assam, NE India),