Culture and history · Hee Bermiok
Limboo kitchen evening and tongba by the fire
If your host family is Limboo, ask to spend the evening by their hearth learning about Limboo food, language and festivals over a bamboo mug of tongba. Even in non-Limboo homes, a farm kitchen evening is the best way to understand who lives in Hee Bermiok and how.
The Limboo, also written Limbu, are one of the oldest peoples of the eastern Himalaya, with a homeland, Limbuwan, that ran across both sides of the Singalila ridge into what is now eastern Nepal. They have their own language, their own script, often called Sirijunga after an eighteenth-century scholar who championed it, and an oral scripture, the Mundhum, recited by their priests at births, weddings and funerals. In 2003 the Limboo were recognised as a Scheduled Tribe in Sikkim.
Tongba is the drink most associated with the Limboo: fermented finger millet packed into a tall bamboo or wooden vessel, topped up with hot water and sipped through a bamboo straw. The water is refilled several times as the evening goes on. Food may include kinema, fermented soybean, gundruk greens, local rice, pork or chicken on festival days, and chilli relishes. Ask about the Chyabrung, the two-sided drum played in Limboo dances, and whether anyone in the house still plays.
Hee Bermiok's homestays are run by families of several communities, not only Limboo, so ask when you book and do not assume. Whoever your hosts are, the evening by the kitchen fire is where you learn the most, about festivals, crops, children who have moved to Gangtok or Bengaluru, and how life has changed since the road came. Drink tongba slowly, as it is stronger than it tastes, and it is fine to say no. Offer to help wash up.
Cost: Included with homestay dinner
Questions people ask
Good to know
What is tongba?
Tongba is a traditional Limboo drink of fermented finger millet packed into a tall bamboo or wooden vessel, topped up with hot water and sipped through a bamboo straw. The vessel is refilled with hot water several times. It is mildly alcoholic but adds up over an evening, so drink slowly and skip it if you are unwell or on medication.
Are all homestays in Hee Bermiok run by Limboo families?
No. The village has Limboo, Lepcha and Nepali-speaking families of several communities. If you are particularly interested in Limboo culture, ask when you book whether the host family is Limboo. Every family has its own food and festival stories, so a kitchen evening is worthwhile whoever you stay with.
What should we bring for our homestay hosts?
A small gift is welcome but never expected: tea, sweets or fruit from the plains, or something from your home town. Avoid alcohol unless you know the family drinks. Offer to help in the kitchen or wash up, ask before taking photographs, and take your rubbish with you when you leave.
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