Kohima (Nagaland):The Hornbill festival, often touted as the 'festival of festivals' began in Nagaland on December 1 with much gaiety and fervour and is scheduled to culminate on December 10.
To encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote the cultural heritage of Nagaland, the state government organises the grand festival every year around the same time.
The 20th edition of the festival got off to a spectacular start at the picturesque Naga Heritage Village in Kisama, about 12 km away from the main city, along Kohima-Imphal National Highway-2, with as many as 55,000 people attending the first two days of the 10-day long celebration.
Besides Kisama, the celebrations are spread over other parts of the state capital.
Various programmes are also being held in Dimapur, Mokokchung, Wokha and Phek districts.
"The journey from Assam to Kisama was tedious and back-breaking but Hornbill festival was such a delight to watch and the trip is totally worth it," said Prasanna Venkateshwaran and his wife Jyothi B Vikraman from Chennai attending the festival on Friday. "The road connectivity could have been made better ahead of the festival", said techies Subhashini Sharma and her husband Anand Parthasarthy who have come from Bengaluru.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said Nagaland has become the ambassador of North East region to the whole of India through the Hornbill Festival.
Singh, who visited the Hornbill festival ground, congratulated the Nagaland government for successfully hosting the festival for 20 years.