Festival to Celebrate Birds Committing Suicide
Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
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Jatinga, Assam (India):
Tribal people in a village in India's northeastern state of Assam are holding a two-day festival next month to mark the centenary of a bizarre phenomenon of flocks of birds committing "suicide." A century after villagers of Jatinga first witnessed a bevy of "dying birds" dropping down to the ground from great heights, this strange behavior still remains a mystery with experts clueless about its explanation.
Jatinga, a village on a ridge in the North Cachar Hills district, 334 kilometers (207 miles) south of Assam's main city of Guwahati, is a nightmare for birds and a big puzzle for ornithologists. The Jaintia tribal people in Jatinga, most of them farmers, are holding a two-day centennial celebration starting December 28 to mark the weird event that brought this village to the international limelight.
"The celebrations are aimed at creating awareness so that people do not add further woes to the birds that for some reason go berserk and come crashing down," the district's centennial celebration committee leader Aibok Suchiang told IRNA. For about four months beginning August, when the night is moonless and foggy and accompanied by wind and drizzle, this village of some 2,500 Jaintia tribal people turns into a graveyard for a bevy of birds that comes crashing to the ground.
"This century-old phenomenon of birds plummeting to the ground during this time of the year still remains a mystery with no concrete explanation available as to why it happens," Bikash Brahma, chief wildlife warden of the North Cachar Hills district, told IRNA.
Nov 13, 2005
Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
______________________
Jatinga, Assam (India):
Tribal people in a village in India's northeastern state of Assam are holding a two-day festival next month to mark the centenary of a bizarre phenomenon of flocks of birds committing "suicide." A century after villagers of Jatinga first witnessed a bevy of "dying birds" dropping down to the ground from great heights, this strange behavior still remains a mystery with experts clueless about its explanation.
Jatinga, a village on a ridge in the North Cachar Hills district, 334 kilometers (207 miles) south of Assam's main city of Guwahati, is a nightmare for birds and a big puzzle for ornithologists. The Jaintia tribal people in Jatinga, most of them farmers, are holding a two-day centennial celebration starting December 28 to mark the weird event that brought this village to the international limelight.
"The celebrations are aimed at creating awareness so that people do not add further woes to the birds that for some reason go berserk and come crashing down," the district's centennial celebration committee leader Aibok Suchiang told IRNA. For about four months beginning August, when the night is moonless and foggy and accompanied by wind and drizzle, this village of some 2,500 Jaintia tribal people turns into a graveyard for a bevy of birds that comes crashing to the ground.
"This century-old phenomenon of birds plummeting to the ground during this time of the year still remains a mystery with no concrete explanation available as to why it happens," Bikash Brahma, chief wildlife warden of the North Cachar Hills district, told IRNA.
Nov 13, 2005
