The local story
Oranges, cinchona and an old bamboo church
Sittong sits in the valley of the Riyang river, which runs down from the ridges above Kurseong towards the Teesta. It is spread over three government land blocks, known locally as Sittong I, II and III, and its 3,098 residents (2011 census) live mostly by farming. The crop that made it famous is the Darjeeling mandarin, the small, loose-skinned orange grown on terraces and around houses all through the valley. When the fruit ripens from November, the village turns orange and green, and traders come up from Siliguri to buy.
The government cinchona plantations of the Mungpoo and Latpanchar area lie close by, and the Directorate of Cinchona and Other Medicinal Plants has organised an orange festival at Sittong in December. Villagers will also show you their church. Local accounts say it began as a simple bamboo building more than a century ago and has since been rebuilt in brick; it still serves the Christian families of the valley, alongside the Hindu and Buddhist households around it.
