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NAGALAND is a land of festivals. All the tribes celebrate their distinct seasonal festivals with a pageantry of colour and a feast of music.

Nagaland has a rich linguistic tradition with as many languages as there are tribes, each exclusive to itself.

What is even more remarkable is that even within the language of a particular tribe, there are dialects mutually unintelligible. For instance, in some tribes like the Angami, every village has a slightly different variation even within the same dialect-this variance progressively increasing with the geographical distance. This makes inter-tribe and intra-tribe communication very difficult. In the circumstances, English has come to serve as the State language while Nagamese, a kind of pidgin Assamese, has become the common lingua

Tribes of Nagaland
1. Angami 2. Ao 3. Chakesang 4. Chang
5. Khiamniungan 6. Kuki 7. Konyak 8. Kachari
9. Lotha 10. Phom 11. Pochury 12. Rengma
13. Sumi 14. Sangtam 15. Yimchunger 16. Zeliang

All the tribes have their own festivals which they hold so dear. They regard their festivals sacrosanct and participation in celebration is compulsory. They celebrate their distinct seasonal festivals with a pageantry of colour and a feast of music.

Most of these festivals revolve round agriculture, it being the main-stay of Naga society. Over 85% population of Nagaland is directly dependent on agriculture and lives in a thousand and odd villages situated on high hill tops or slopes overlooking verdant valleys humming with murmuring streams. In this blissful setting Nagas enjoy the blessing of Nature with rare gusto striking the onlookers with awe and admiration. In most of the places agriculture consists of monocrop.

Although some religious and spiritual sentiments are inter woven into secular rites and rituals, the pre- dominant theme of the festivals is offering of prayers to a Supreme Being having different names in different Naga dialects. At these festivals, the spirit of Gods is propitiated with sacrifices by the Village Shaman for a bountiful harvest either before the sowing or on the eve of harvest.

The State is replete with festivities throughout the year, as all tribes celebrate their own festivals with a pageantry of colour, music and dance. A common feature is that the festivals revolve around agriculture, the mainstay of Naga economy. These festivals hark back to times prior to the advent of Christianity.

Tribe Festival Month
Angami Sekrenyi February 25th
Ao Moatsu May 1st Week
Tsungremong August 1st Week
Chakesang Sukrunyie January 15th
Tsakhanyie April 24th
Chang Naknyulem July 13th
Khiamniungan Tsokm October 1st Week
Kuki Mimkut January 17th
Konyak Aoleang Monyu April 1st to 3rd
Kachari Bushu January 27th
Lotha Tokhu Emong Novemebr 7th
Phom Monyu April 1st Week
Pochury Yemshe October 1st Week
Rengma Ngada November Last Week
Sumi Tuluni July 8th
Sangtam Mongmong September 1st Week
Yimchungr Medmneo August 4th to 8th
Zeliang Meileingi March
Page updated on : 24-07-2021