Explore the unique winter and tourist festival of Manipur.

The state of Manipur is a land of festivals, and the people of this state enjoy every festival with great enthusiasm and happiness. Each of the festival of this state is unique and a mixture of different culture and lifestyle. The heritage and culture of Manipur are very rich and colourful, and this is indeed reflected in the way they celebrate different festivals.

Gang- Ngai is a religious festival and is celebrated by the people of Zeliangrong. This festival is seen to be enjoyed heartily in almost all the districts of Manipur. The Gang- Ngai festival is also considered as a self- identity festival in order to mark the end of the harvest season and is also celebrated to mark the beginning of the New Year. Also, this festival is celebrated to preserve their cultures and traditions, and this particular festival also aims to introduce the culture to the new generation so that they can further take the legacy forward.

The festival is also celebrated to teach the community about strict disciplines in society and also for girls who are soon going to be married.

In 1976, the Gang- Ngai festival was declared as a restricted holiday, but since 10th January 1998, it was declared as a Public holiday by the United Front Government Head. This step was however taken to safeguard the culture and identity of the Zeliangrong community.

• The festival is started with an omen ceremony where the local people get dressed in their traditional dresses and then they come out on the streets and dance on their traditional music. However, the first day of the festival is usually spent by performing rituals and honouring the ancestors in order to receive blessings from them
• The people are also seen exchanging gifts, and they wish each other good health and a great year ahead. The community people also prepare cuisines where they come together and have a good meal, interact and have a good time with each other
• The community also organize a singing competition where the participants are required to sing folk songs
• The community also organize a singing competition where the participants are required to sing folk songs
• The people also perform different types of drum beating by people who expertise in drum beating.
• The community also organizes various sports and games for the village people. And the people perform a commemorative dance in the festival
• The best part of this festival is that the local people prepare delicious local foods such as Chamthong which is a vegetable stew, Eromba which is made from boiled vegetables and fish, Morok Metpa (chutney), a local salad known as Singju and for the dessert they prepare Chak Hao kheer