Me-Dam-Me-Phi January 31

The Ahoms have their own principles and faith. From the Ahom Chronicles, it can be known that when Lengdon, the king of Mong Phi (the heavenly kingdom), sent two of his grandsons Khunlung and Khunlai to Mong Ri, present Xishuangbanna, at that time Ye-Cheng-Pha the god of knowledge advised them to perform the worships Umpha, Phuralong, Mae Dam Mae Phi and Rik-khwan in different months of the year on different occasions to pay homage to the Phi-Dam (ancestral spirit) and the Khwan.

From that day until now Mae Dam Mae Phi has been observed by all Tai-Ahom.

When Mae Dam Mae Phi is observed publicly, worship is offered in the name of three gods and they are Me Dam Me Phi, Dam Changphi and Grihadam. God Dam Chao Phi is associated with the belief of certain natural powers like creation and destruction, water, lightning and storm, sun, moon, learning, diseases, earth, etc.

The worship is performed by the Ahom priests Deodhai and Bailung by chanting mantras in the Ahom language and following the codes given in the Manuscripts (books) such as Phralung and Banfi, etc. God Dam Chang Phi is the ancestor God of the sixth to fourteenth generation of a family.

Grihadam is also the ancestor God up to the fourth generation of a family. Worship to Grihadam is offered in the month of Kati at the time of harvesting the new Ahu rice, in the month of Aghon at the time of harvesting the new Sali Dhan and at the time of three Bihus.

On Me-Dam day, Me Phi worship is offered only to Chaufi and Dam Chaufi as they are considered as sky gods. Changphi and Grihadam are not worshipped on this day as they are considered as earthly gods.

The Ahoms believe that a man after his death remains as a 'Dam' (ancestor) only for a few days and soon becomes 'Phi' (God). They also believe that the soul of a man who is immortal unites with the Supreme Soul, possesses the qualities of a spiritual being and always blesses the family.

So every Ahom family in order to worship the dead establishes a pillar on the other side of the kitchen (Barghar) which is called 'Damkhuta' where they worship the dead with various offerings like homemade wine, eggs with handoh (a kind of rice powder) along with various items of vegetarian dishes.