Arunachal’s tribes revive indigenous lockdown rituals.

• A tribal lockdown ritual has staged a comeback in Arunachal Pradesh, the State geographically closest to China’s Hubei province where the COVID-19 outbreak began.
• Arr-Rinam is the Galo equivalent of lockdown imposed by consensus for 48 hours whenever an epidemic strikes. The Galos, one of the 26 major tribes of Arunachal Pradesh,
•  “Arr-Rinam, which follows the Ali-Ternam ritual to ward off an epidemic, has been a part of culture, Ali-Ternam — Ali means epidemic and Ternam forestall — and Arr-Rinam were last performed almost four decades ago when a water-borne disease had affected many members of the community.
• The Adi community inhabiting East Siang and Lower Dibang Valley districts too performed a similar ritual called Motor that they believe lets shamans with legendary powers to locate wild herbs to combat an epidemic.
• In districts such as Papum Pare and East Kameng, the dominant Nyishi community observed Arrue involving self-quarantine.