The
Seminar Committee, Fazl Ali College organized a webinar on 2nd
December, 2021 at 4:00 pm with Ms. Toshisangla, HoD, Department of Ao, Fazl Ali
College as the presenter.
She
spoke on the topic “Aor tenúng tetezú kar (Interpretation of some Ao names)”.
She explained about the process and symbolic act of giving names to new born
children in Ao society. Traditionally, on the third day following the birth of
an infant, the christening takes place. This is regarded as a very auspicious
and sacred event, and is celebrated by inviting both maternal and paternal
relatives to the event. She mentioned how it is generally the paternal
grandparents who take the honour of blessing the child with a name. However, it
was elaborated that names are not randomly given but were often given based on
the (past) history of forefathers. Sometimes names were also given as
identification of his/her particular clan. Based on this, she spoke on the
classification of names in Ao tradition with lucid examples and translations of
names.
Dr.
Temjensangla Pongener moderated the session where she reiterated on the
importance of mastering the mother tongue in order to keep one’s culture alive,
to shield it, stay rooted, to value and to preserve it. The seminar was
attended by participants from all the departments in the college.