Festivals of Nagaland

Nagaland’s festivals are mostly directly related to the agricultural calendar. Themes are often the strengthening of the community or honoring and invoking the fertility of Mother Earth. Typical for a festival day in Nagaland is a repetitive program, often with group singing and dancing with the participation of the entire village population. Each tribe has its own individual traditions, which are expressed at the festivals in the form of folk songs, dances, traditional sports, special food and drink. The Nagas’ enormous wealth of songs and dances often focuses on the worship of the headhunter and warrior. In addition, heroic stories, fertility and the praise of one’s own group, its beauty, strength, courage and power. Unity and togetherness are also the focus of many dance forms, in which the dancers demonstrate their interdependence through their position, for example, by performing joint balance and equilibrium formations. The aim of these representations is often to convey eternity and unity with nature. In Nagaland, people dance and sing on all occasions. The most important festivals of the various tribes: