Shad Suk Mynsiem is the Khasi festivals

Ka Shad Suk Mynsiem is a thanksgiving dance where all the people meet once a year at the end of the harvesting season.

Shad Suk Mynsiem (‘the dance of peaceful hearts’) is held during the month of April.Spring is symbolic as a season of rebirth, as is the case in many societies. It signifies the beginning of new cycles during which new seedlings are planted. Shad Suk Mynsiem is an agrarian festival and celebrates the optimism for the coming year.

Both men and women participate in the dance where steps of women are subtle, whereas those of men are more energetic. Only unmarried (virgin) women participate in the dance, whereas there is no such restriction for men. The dance begins with drums, flutes and cymbals picking up the tempo. 

Two circles are formed with women on the inside and men on the outside. With eyes down, the women take small steps forward and backward as they gradually shift sideways to move in a circle. They keep their body straight and arms loose at shoulders. 

The men do a more energetic dance with swift movements in clockwise and anticlockwise direction around women. Men play a part of protectors for the women who are inside the outer circle.

Khasi people are close to nature. They believe that god exists in every element of nature.

 Ka Shad Suk Mynsiem dance is also symbolic of women fertility where they are receptacles of seeds and bearers of fruit, and men are cultivators who plant, cultivate and nurture the seeds until they are harvested.