3 agricultural festivals that the Naga community celebrates with pomp and grandeur!
Fancy costumes, a wide array of delectable native dishes, hours of singing and dancing, curious customs—all these are the essential elements of any festival, be it urban or tribal. Take for example, the agricultural festivals of the Naga community dwelling in Nagaland. Consisting of 17 tribes, the Naga community has agriculture as its chief occupation. So, it’s no wonder that they have quite a few festivals that celebrate various activities such as the sowing of seeds, cleaning of fields after sowing and completion of harvest. All of them are a riot of colours, to say the least and feature unique cultural traditions. Here is a look at three of them.
The Aoleang festival
The Aelong festival is celebrated for five days from 1st to 6th April every year mainly by the Konyak tribe of the Naga community. It is celebrated after the sowing of new seeds in the fields by tribal farmers who seek divine blessings. The tribe also welcomes the New Year by celebrating this spring festival. They indulge in various song and dance routines during the Aoleang fest. One of the central rituals is worshipping the cult of fertility laa longpa. People decorate a bamboo pole called zangwan-keihphong in front of the village. The village priest sacrifices a chicken, preferably a black one, at the foot of the pole. The intestines of the chicken are taken out and the priest reads particular lines on the intestine. He interprets the readings for the villagers, who have to cultivate the crops based on these readings through the entire year! Intriguing indeed!
Moatsii Mong festival
Moatsii Mong, locally known as Moatsu, is the agricultural festival of the Ao tribe. This festival is celebrated after cleaning the field and sowing seeds. A three-day-long festival, it is annually celebrated in the first week of May and is the happiest time of the year for the Ao people. As part of the celebration, they light a fire called sangpangtu. People of the village sit around the fire in their best attires while women of the tribe serve meat and wine to everyone. This is followed by song and dance rituals and storytelling sessions. This session ends with a game of tug of war between men and women! Moatsu also involves praying and expressing gratitude to the forests for their bounty and ancestors for their blessings.
Bushu Dima festival
Celebrated on the completion of the January harvest, Bushu Dima is one of the most important and therefore extravagant festivals celebrated by the Dimasa tribe. To begin the celebration, people from the tribe offer their yield of paddy field to their supreme god Brai Sibrai Madai. This is followed by creating an elegantly designed gate at the village entrance! The gate is called Phangsla. Also, one person is appointed to supervise that all the arrangements are in place. The men in the tribe beat drums, traditionally known as Kharam. In this three-day festival, the first day involves wearing traditional attires, dancing and feasting. The second is about sports and games like long jump and high jump among others. The guests and tourists are welcomed with drums and bugles on the last day of the festival.
So now you know that India is not called as Incredible for nothing!