Come and witness the harvest festival of the Pochuri tribe of Nagaland

Nagaland is a Northeastern state of India and is famous for its scenic beauty and beautiful hills. Also, the state is well known for a number of festivals as well. Nagaland celebrates a number of festivals due to the presence of different kinds of tribes, their distinct cultures and customs. During the time of the festival, the people organize a number of fairs and festivals which portrays their rich and exclusive traditional heritage

The Yemshe festival of Nagaland is a culturally rich festival and is one of the widely known harvest festivals of Northeast India. This festival is celebrated by the Pochuris Nagas of Nagaland. At the time of the festival, the entire tribe comes together and celebrates this festival with great joy. Certain rituals and ceremonies are performed during this festival that is considered important in the Pochuri culture. Also, people express their happiness by performing traditional dances and singing folk songs. The festival is celebrated on the 5th day in the month of October in Kohima which is the capital city of Nagaland. It usually begins in the last week of September and goes on to the first week of October. The main highlight of this festival is the Bamboo dance which is an important part of the festival and this particular dance is also widely acknowledged on a global platform.

• The festival consists of two parts, i.e., 'big Yemshe' or 'small Yemshe' and is based on how big the celebration is. This celebration is believed to unify the village or is simply a family-oriented celebration
• Before the start of the festival, the youths of the village clean the entire village. After this, the spokesperson of the village announces the beginning of the festival through a small speech and announcement
• A grand feast is organized where food and wine are exchanged in banana leaves. The villagers use rice in order to prepare the food and wine. However, the use of millet, maize, and other grains is excluded. Also, for the preparation of meat pinewood is used.
• The rituals of the festival are done by the head of the family in each house. The people also sacrifice animals as they believe it brings a higher fertility rate in the lands. Also, frogs are sheltered in the rivers and at the time of the festival the people are not allowed to catch them
• During this festival, people sing, dance, and participate in sports and other fun activities. Also, the Pochuri people perform their traditional bamboo dance which is considered as one of the important parts of this festival