INDIAN MANDALA Easter on a mission among the Khasi, the world’s last matrilineal society

They are the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, a missionary congregation originally from the United States that now also operates in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya. In the Western Khasi Mountains district, which is part of the Nongstoin diocese, there are only three priests, who must carry out “itinerant” celebrations from one village to another.

Shilong () – A small community of nuns works for one of the last matrilineal communities in the world in the mountains of northeastern India. They are the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, a missionary congregation founded in the United States and now present in several countries in the south of the world, including the Indian state of Meghalaya, where the majority is Christian but there is a lack of priests.

Unlike the rest of India, considered a strongly patriarchal society, the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo tribes use the mother’s surname, leaving the inheritance to the youngest daughter (called “ka khadduh“) and it is the husbands who go to live with their wives, and not the other way around. ka khadduhafter gaining the approval of his uncles and brothers, he becomes responsible for the family assets and head of the family.

In particular, the Khasi, the best known and largest tribal group, are described by experts as “a matrilineal society with patriarchal overtones” because men continue to play an important role in politics and society. “The man is the defender of the woman, but the woman is the guardian of his trust,” wrote David Roy Phanwar at the beginning of the last century, referring to the Khasi, to whom he himself belonged. Legend has it that they are descendants of seven divine clans, while scholars surmise that they are descendants of ancient Mon and Khmer tribes from the Burmese jungles.

Today they are predominantly Christian. “Only in Shillong, the state capital, do you occasionally come across Hindus or Muslims,” ​​he told Sister Lilly Luka, of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. “Here, the Christian community is very receptive and welcoming, and we don’t have to face discrimination from minorities like in other parts of India.”

There are four sisters who live in the Western Khasi Mountains district, part of the Nongstoin diocese, and work mainly with the Khasi clans. They are dedicated to teaching and, recently, also to health care; For her part, Sister Lilly visits families, attends weddings and celebrations in the approximately 28 villages (also called substations) that make up the parish.

Compared to the population, there are so few priests that entire villages have to move from one part to another when they want to gather for celebrations. For the 22 parishes that make up the diocese, there are six religious communities and only three priests, so that for Christians in Meghalaya, faith – and Easter too – is an itinerant experience: “For religious services they have to ask for help from other priests. Every Sunday, mass is celebrated in a different town and all the faithful who live nearby, more than 2,000 people, move from one town to another.”

Today’s Good Friday celebration will be in charge of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. “The community is generous and well organized: the catechists and the female leaders divide the readings among themselves and decide who will give the homily. The Sunday celebration begins at 10 in the morning, ends at 1 or 2 in the afternoon , and at night family prayer follows. The whole town meets in a clan house, the Bible is read, someone makes a brief reflection and then they all have tea together. Here there is a very strong faith”, commented the missionary from the southern state of Kerala, at the opposite end of the country. “It takes me three or four days to get home,” exclaimed Sister Lilly.

It was she who opened this new mission in March 2018: “I had made myself available to come here to make an exploratory trip,” she explained to . “I worked as a manager and then as deputy director of the diocese’s social programs. Within a year, the sisters arrived: one from Tamil Nadu, one from Maharashtra and one from Jharkhand.” As they come from different parts of India, the biggest difficulty they find with the community is the language: “We are learning Khasi, but at home the families speak a colloquial language that is very difficult to understand. But to pray together there is no problem, because the readings are in roman characters, which are easy to read”. As a rule, the Khasi language is transcribed using the Bengali-Assamese alphabet, which consists of 12 signs for vowels and 52 for consonants.

“People share with us the daily difficulties. Many Khasi own land and cultivate mainly maize, rice and potatoes, or work as day laborers. Getting food is not a problem, but saving money is more complicated. Difficulties arise in case of illness or if they have to pay the children’s tuition”.

For this reason, one of the sisters started running a health center, while the parochial schools are totally free. “Few young people can afford to go elsewhere and study to be a nurse or a teacher. Most stay here,” Sister Lilly continued. Even today, it is the women who take care of the Khasi community: “We sisters also take in three girls from poor families and since we have been here, in five years, four young men have decided to join our congregation.”