Festivals of Nagaland

Cultural life in Nagaland is one long festival. The State is replete with festivities throughout the year, as all tribes  celebrate their own festivals with a pageantry of colors, music and dance. 

A common features is that the festivals revolve around agriculture, the main stay of Naga economy. These festivals date back to times prior to the advent of Christianity. The predominant theme of the festivals is offering prayer to the Supreme Being. 

All the tribes have its distinct cultural traditions and customs, through various forms of performing arts. Each tribal community can be distinguished by the colorful and intricately designed costumes, jewelers and beads that its members wear.

Most festivals begin as a propitiation of the spirits, involving abstinence for purification of self, the house and the village. Nagas followed an unwritten Lunar calendar indicating some kind of astronomical prowess. This calendar invariably had 12 months, each with 28-30 days. Some like the Angamis even had a 13th month.

Festivals follow Lunar months, usually the phase between new moon and a full moon.

In modern times, they have been rescheduled to fit the Gregorian calendar.

Festivals are occasions celebrated with fervour and gaiety, a times for sharing and giving, renew old relationships and to know one's kith and kin. Age old values such as generosity, honesty, hospitality, valour, bravery, camaraderie and loyalty are passed down through these festivals. 

These values are nurtured, inbuilt and inherited through generations and become innate in the long run. 

Hence, the Naga sense of hospitability and generosity is unsurpassable till today.