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Fair & Festivals in Nagaland |
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Nagaland is also the home of some of the most colorful festivals. Singing, dancing and drinking of locally prepared rice beer mark the Naga festivals. Sekrenyi is a festival that belongs to the Angami tribe. This festival signifies the end of the agricultural cycle and lasts for 10 days. Konyak Aoling is another festival that denotes the coming of the New Year. This festival is celebrated in the month of April. Moreover, there are the festivals like Ao Moatsu and the non-traditional tourism festival of May and October that draw good crowds.
Sekrenyi
It is celebrated in February by the Western Angamis and in December by the Southern Angamis. The festival is to ensure the health and well being of the community during the coming year. It is an occasion of great merry making, enormous quantities of rice-beer, beef and pork are consumed. An interesting feature of the festival is that the men have to prepare a separate hearth and abstain from any sexual relation for the first two days.
Moatsu
Among the Aos, the most important festival is Moatsu, which is celebrated after the sowing is over. The festival last six days. On the first night of the festival sexual intercourse was forbidden. Every man was required to wear a new belt, for hanging his dao. The unmarried men received belts as presents from their girl friends, the married men got from their wives. During this occasion, the restriction relating to dress and ornaments were relaxed. People could wear even the forbidden ones according to their will.
The most important role, during the festival used to be played by the youths of the bachelor's dormitory. Before the festival, the morung had to be repaired and cleansed. The dancing drums were also put to order by attaching new skins. On the first day of the festival, the boys belonging to the younger age-groups used to go to the jungle and collect six bundles of paired bamboo strips each. These they handed over to the morung elders, for use according to their discretion. On the second day, all the boys and grown-up males engaged themselves in clearing the village, particularly the main approaches to the village. That night, the cows and the pigs to be slaughtered on the occasion of this festival were tied outside the morung. On the third day, the cows and the pigs would be killed. The meat was distributed among the boys of the morung and some portion was kept apart, to be given as present. In the evening, the boys would eat the meat outside the morung. Later some old men would come to the morung and would be entertained with meat and rice-beer. When they would eat the meat, the boys would be singing songs inside the morung. On the fourth day, the people of Mongsen Khel would dance in procession; in all the streets of the village. On the fifth day, the people of Chungli Khel would dance similarly. The women were not to take any part in these dances, but at intervals they served rice-beer to the dancers. The old men also would not dance, but follow the dancer, singing songs. A drummer always accompanied the party and the people would dance to the beatings of the drum. On the sixth day, both the Khels used to dance together.
Sankarni
One of the major festivals of the Zemis is the Sankarni Puja which coincides with Shivaratri. Single boys and girls join in the Sankarni puja which lasts over a week. Chanting songs, they smoke, eat and drink to their hearts content. Contribution in money and kind is welcome from the participant families as well as visitors.
The Chakhesang Khilunyie and Rengma Ngadah are both harvest festivals.
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