| Description |
Sing-si is a type of oil/ghee produced manually. It is purely made with locally available materials and doesn’t mix any imported ingredients unlike the oil which are available in the market today. The main ingredient used is the Se-lung- a black small oily seed. Its scientific name is Parasassafras Confertiflora. The Se-lung tree is either wild or domesticated.
Usually, in bygone days, it is believed that almost many villages had a trend of processing Sing-si, however, the trend wasn’t famous unlike Thongsa village under Chongshing Gewog (block) in Pemagatshel. According to grandma Nimdaza who is seventy-four years old, processing of Sing-si was part and parcel of their lives and members from every household were engaged in performing chores of Singsi production. Further she says that the labor contribution was also done depending upon the number of members present in the household. More than one worker was engaged from the household which had more family members. The materials needed were –Tsir (a small bamboo basket), Mar-kang (wooden block), plank, stones, Neetong-ma (pestle), frying pan, Luu (pounding stone). The Sing-si was used mainly for offering butter lamps. Other secondary uses were for human and animal consumption. Humans consumed it as there weren't imported oils available those days in the shops. |
| Social and cultural significance |
Though it was not very easy for the people of Thongsa to produce Sing-si, yet it has benefited them a lot in many ways. It was used both for religious and domestic purposes. It was used as vegetable oil before vegetable oil in the market wasn’t available. In addition, it has served as an oil to offer butter lamps for the deceased member from the family. However, the shocking thing was that they had used Sing-si for medication. The belief was if a right amount of Sing-si is used while frying Ara (locally brewed alcohol) had kept their body fit and well. Moreover, it is used for massages purposes when there is pain in the body joints. However, there aren't any myths associated with the Sing-si production, yet, believe is that they used to sing a song in the process of producing Sing-si oil. It has helped them reduce the feeling of being tired by the work. |
| Transmission method |
The exact date for inception of such practice is not known. However, it must have been more than one-hundred years since their adoption was what grandma Nimdaza says. It is an inherited practice from their ancestors. However, they are unaware of where and how their ancestors might have learnt the practice of processing Seng-si. Today, Sing-si producing culture is on the verge of dying. They now hardly extract Sing-si, since they are accessible to the market for oil. These oil had now served all the purposes and their needs. Further, upon the inquiry, it is known that the elderly people of Thongsa did not teach about it to their Youngers. It is because today's youth were found to be having no interest learning about it or otherwise all the youths of Thongsa are the students. So, they get no time to learn and their span of winter is too short for them to finish to learn about it completely.
Processes of making Sing-si
1. Firstly they were to fetch enough Se-lung/seeds. They collected both domesticated and from the forest.
2. Dry seedlings. Seedlings were either spreading under the sun or by placing them at right height above the oven to receive the right amount of heat.
3. Boil or steam the seedlings for some time.
4. Pound it till seedling are smashed into smaller pieces.
5. Fill bamboo basket with those smashed pieces of seedlings.
6. Finally place a bamboo basket containing smeared pieces of seedling in-between the plank and the wooden block. One edge of the plank is supported from a big rock and on another edge a few numbers of stones are placed to exert force onto the basket. Upon the exertion of pressure onto the basket, the pounded seedlings are smeared making a drop of oil come out. These drops of oil are then collected in the containers.
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| Community |
Thongsa community, Chongshing Gewog (block), Pemagatshel.
Data collected by: Mr. Pema Choizang, Teacher, Tsebar Lower Secondary School, Pemagatshel. |
