Monday, March 29, 2021

Christian singing groups in India

Yesterday I found a source of beautiful hymns, including “All glory laud and honor” for Palm Sunday, and was surprised they were from India—St. Andrew Kirk in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, and other cooperating Christian groups. According to the tradition of Indian Christians, the Christian faith was introduced to India through Thomas the Apostle, who is said to have reached the Malabar Coast (Kerala) in 52 AD. From this album I looked at a few more sites, and found this lovely group, BESY. But they looked Asian, not Indian. And they are indeed, Asians of many diverse tribes, but an Indian state.
“Mizoram is a state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its capital city. The name is derived from “Mizo“, the name of the native inhabitants, and “Ram”, which means land, and thus Mizoram means “land of the Mizos”. Mizoram was previously part of Assam until 1972, when it was carved out as a Union Territory. It became the 23rd state of India, a step above Union Territory, on 20 February 1987. Mizoram’s population was 1,091,014, according to a 2011 census. It is the 2nd least populous state in the country.

About 95% of the current population is of diverse tribal origins who settled in the state, mostly from Southeast Asia, other waves of migration started about the 16th century but mainly in the 18th century. This is the highest concentration of tribal people among all states of India, and they are currently protected under Indian constitution as a Scheduled Tribe. Mizoram is one of three states of India with a Christian majority (87%). Its people belong to various denominations, mostly Presbyterian in the north and Baptists in the south.”

Some of the Mizo tribes claim to be Jews, of the lost tribes of Israel. They had first converted from animism under European missionaries to Christianity, then in the 1950s became Jews. Some have immigrated to Israel.

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