The Galo tribe one of the most populous tribes of Arunachal Pradesh and belong to the Tani group inhabiting Assam, Arunachal Pradesh Tibet. They speak Tani and Galo language. Galo is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Western Tani branch. Galo belong to the Donyi Polo (means Sun-Moon and is the designation given to the indigenous religion of the Tani and other Tibeto-Burman people), and Christianity religion. Mopin is the main festival in Galos which is celebrated for the prosperity of their villages. The dance form they practice is called the Popir dance. They are designated as a scheduled tribe since 1980.
A distinctive aspect of this tribe is that they maintain genealogy through given names. The members of the Galo community can recall the name of their ancestor from 20 generations ago, that is right up to the founder of their clan. This is made possible by their system of naming which involves a system of prefixing the second syllable of a father’s name to that of a son, who passes on the suffix in his name to his son. This way they can trace the names of ancestors from the first syllable or prefix of their names.
For instance, if the father’s name is Tanii, then the children may be named as Niito, Niiya and Niishi. Now this may continue as Tani-nito-topo-poi-ikar-karka-kalom-lombi-biki-kigum-gumdu-dumar-marka-katu-tuji-jipak-pakta-tapak-pakta-tari-richi-chipak-Paktum (-tumge), pakli, pakjum, pakyir, etc. Since the Galo people had no written language of their own, this method of naming helped them in remembering their origins.
Recently in March 2020, when the COVID 19 outbreak began to grip the country, Galo community elders performed the Ali-Ternam ritual before the Arr-Rinam or lockdown ceremony in West Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh, which is closest to China’s Hubei province. Arr-Rinam is the Galo equivalent of lockdown is imposed by consensus for 48 hours whenever an epidemic strikes. The ritual is a part of Galo culture and was performed to ward off the epidemic. Such rituals are usually performed for livestock that are prone to contagious diseases. For the first time it was performed for the safety of humans from the pandemic.