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Bridge to the golden side: Terraced fields ready for harvest
at Khonoma village in Nagaland
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Last time I had shown some images of the Amazing Terraced Fields of Nagaland.
Now, here’s a glimpse of the harvest and after. The terraced
fields start ripening into a golden hue by late September and are ready to be
harvested by mid to late October. All harvesting activity is completed in most
areas of Nagaland by mid November.
After harvest, the grains, still protected in their husks, are traditionally stored in huge
bamboo rice baskets/bins. Portions are then taken out according to need and sun
dried on bamboo mats. After they are properly dried, they’re hand pounded to
split the husks. This is a multiple step process whereby the pounded grain is taken
out and tossed in a flat bamboo winnowing basket to remove the husks. The grain
is then pounded again. This process is repeated several times till all the
husks are gone. The last few countable stubborn ones are then picked off by
hand and the cleaned rice is ready for the kitchen.
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Golden fields ready for harvest – Khonoma village, Nagaland:
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A warm beautiful day, just right for harvesting: A farmer gets
busy in her field
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Naga traditional bamboo rice baskets: The rice grains still
protected in its husks are stored in these baskets after harvest.
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| Old and New: A traditional grain storage bamboo basket stands alongside rice filled gunny bags. Besides the traditional storage baskets, gunny bags are nowadays quite commonly used by farmers to store their rice grains and other field produce |
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A Chakhesang village woman sun dries her rice grains on
bamboo mats
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A young boy and his sister hang around guarding rice grains
spread out on a bamboo mat for drying in a Naga village. Someone always has to
be nearby to chase away chickens and birds that come to feed on the grains.
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Rice grains spread out to dry on a mat, firewood stacked on the side,
some green herbs being sun-dried on a flat bamboo basket – a typical scene in a
Naga village home
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