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.
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Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who also paid a visit to the festival on Saturday, said the Hornbill festival depicts the rich cultural heritage of Naga people.
"People across the world have started to study the Hornbill festival," he said, adding that the Hornbill festival is a rare occasion where everyone can enjoy the ethnicity of the Nagas at one place.
Rijiju also tweeted about his visit to the festival while appreciating the increasing footfall at teh venue.
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Thank you Nagaland! A salute to Naga spirit and hospitality. The HORNBILL FESTIVAL depicting rich cultural heritage of the Nagas is breaking all records of tourist footfall !! https://t.co/Vw9hejROEa pic.twitter.com/sBagbQnVGH
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) December 8, 2019 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Thank you Nagaland! A salute to Naga spirit and hospitality. The HORNBILL FESTIVAL depicting rich cultural heritage of the Nagas is breaking all records of tourist footfall !! https://t.co/Vw9hejROEa pic.twitter.com/sBagbQnVGH
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) December 8, 2019Thank you Nagaland! A salute to Naga spirit and hospitality. The HORNBILL FESTIVAL depicting rich cultural heritage of the Nagas is breaking all records of tourist footfall !! https://t.co/Vw9hejROEa pic.twitter.com/sBagbQnVGH
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) December 8, 2019
The Festival crossed the 1 lakh footfall-mark on its sixth day on Friday, officials said.
Besides cultural performances by 17 tribal troupes, the sixth day was marked by presentations from a Thai cultural troupe.
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They performed three dances and enthralled the audience with their colourful attires and flamboyant dances.
Over 1.09 lakh visitors including 2,000 foreigners have visited the Hornbill festival ground till Saturday, officials said.
