Hornbill festival is back with revived zeal – Attracts more than 12k people on day 1
Cancelled last year due to the frightening Covid surge, one of the largest cultural extravaganzas celebrated in the Northeastern state of Nagaland set off with the peals of traditional Naga gong.
The 10-day cultural event is being held at the traditional venue – the Naga Heritage Village Kisama, located near the capital Kohima. The grand fair is supported by the state government, showcases the diverse Naga ethnicity through folk dances, traditional music, tribal rituals, indigenous games, local cuisine, handicraft, artwork and textiles.
Incidentally, the 2021 edition of the tourism extravaganza coincides with Nagaland’s statehood day. This 22nd edition of the annual event comprises around 700 separate events. Before covid, the last edition attracted more than 282,800 people who visited the festival during the 20th edition in 2019, including over 3,000 foreign tourists and at least 55,500 domestic visitors.
As per government officials, although there is a fresh alert for the newly emerged Omicron variant of Covid-19, the festival will go ahead as planned. But everyone has to strictly follow the existing Covid-19 standard operating procedure of the Centre.
The annual event is organized by the Nagaland government with the support of departments of Tourism and Art & Culture to showcase the rich Naga tradition and culture at the Naga Heritage Village, Kisama. The event will be attended by diplomatic representatives from the US, Germany and Israel along with other dignitaries.
