Context: Children of the Lisu and Singpho communities are named according to the order they are born in the family, incorporating numbers into their names.
About Lisu and Singpho tribal communities:
Lisu
- Lisu tribe, also called 'Yobin' in India, live in the most eastern corner of the country in Shidi Valley and Nibodi village of Arunachal Pradesh, surrounded by Namdapha National Park.
- It is one of the minority tribes of Arunachal Pradesh of India.
- The tribe is speculated to have originated from the Yunnan region in North-Western Tibet in the 18th century and were traditionally slash and burn farmer communities.
- It belong to the Tibeto-Burman family and inhabit the contiguous hilly regions of Arunachal Pradesh, China, Myanmar, and Thailand. They number about 5,000 in India.
- Lisu boys and girls have separate sets of numbered names to indicate the order of their birth. The eldest girl in a family has Ana in her name and Apshi for a tenth daughter.
Singphos
- Singphos an ethnic group inhabiting 27 countries, including China’s Yunnan province.
- The Singpho tribe is one of the important frontier tribes of North-East India. The tribe is known in China as Jingpo and in Burma as Kachin.
- In India, the Singphos are found in the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh adjoining the Patkai Mountain range.
- The Singphos of Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are divided into four groups, locally known as Numphuk Hkawng, Diyun Hkawng, Tieng Hkawng and Turung Hawng.
- They speak Singpho language.
- Shapawng Yawng Manau Poi is an annual festival of Singpho tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. It is also the most important dance festival of Singpho (Jinghpaw) community. Also known as Manau Poi, it is the national festival of the Kachins (Singphos) residing in Myanmar.
- The festival is primarily organised to show the varied and rich culture, customs and exotic flora and fauna of vast Arunachal Pradesh.
- The tradition of numbered names is also prevalent among the Singphos.
- The Lisus and Singphos have similar usage of numbers in their names, probably because they belong to the Wunpong group, which has four more communities in the Kachin State of Myanmar.