Nagaland Hornbill Festival

I have always been interested in travelling and exploring different cultures - dance, music, food, and customs of different corners of our country. Some time back, I had read about the whimsical state of Nagaland which has managed to preserve its distinct history and culture over time. I came to know about Hornbill Festival, world's largest tribal celebration that displays multitudinous tribes of Nagaland and their rich customs and heritage.

When 50+ Voyagers Travel and Adventure Club announced their trip to the 'Hornbill Festival of Nagaland', I couldn’t have been more excited. Nagaland has always evoked a sense of mystery and what better way to meet people from the 16 major indigenous Naga tribes. The Hornbill Festival gives a chance to mingle with them, dance with them, experience their traditional huts - Morung, taste traditional dishes especially the bamboo shoot curry, black sticky rice pudding and rice beer !

Brimming with excitement, members of our travel group coming from different parts of India landed at Dimapur a winter morning. With our sweet, young and knowledgeable tour leader from 50+ Voyagers, we set off through beautiful hilly terrain to Kohima, the Capital of Nagaland.

The Hornbill Festival is organized in the 1st week of December each year and it continues for 10 days in Naga Traditional Village - Kisama in the outskirts of Kohima. The festival is named after magnificent Hornbill Bird which hold a prominent importance in Naga folklores, songs, tales and costumes. We attended the inauguration festivities of music and dance after a short formal opening ceremony which was the most colorful events I have had seen anywhere in the world. We were overwhelmed with the colors all around - 16 different Naga tribes dressed in multi-coloured spears and daos, headgear made of orchid stems and adorned with boar teeth and hornbill feathers, ivory armlets and ancient weapons - all with utmost attention to detail was a dream to behold. It lifted us to a different level satisfaction altogether ! We learned that the ceremonial attire of each tribe is different and its a pride for a Naga to represent his or her tribe in the festival.

After watching the dances we shifted our attention to the MORUNGS - Traditional homes of the Naga people. Each tribe had a different design and style of Morung with its unique decorations. Each Morung consists of wood carvings and hollow log drum instruments, which are beaten in haunting symphony at the end of the day. Our guide told that in the past the entrance of the Morung was decorated with the heads of victims. Today head hunting is a thing of the past. Outside each Morung, we were greeted with a performance of individual tribe's own form of dance and folk songs praising the brave deeds of ancient warriors and folk heroes.

In the heart of Kohima lies the Kohima War memorial and cemetery. The cemetery is built on the ground that saw actual hand to hand combat between the Allies and the Japanese army during World War II. I don’t remember any history lessons on WWII being fought on Indian soil so this was a complete eye opener. The cemetery is divided into Christian, Muslim, Hindu sections. It is truly an emotional experience as some of the soldiers buried there were barely 19 years old. Buried so far from home. There is a touching inscription that says "when you go home tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today". The Indians on behalf of British army fought the Japanese as we were not Independent India that time and incidentally Subash Chandra Bose at the same time sought the help of the Japanese to fight the British.

My story of Hornbill, won't be complete, if I don't talk about food stalls serving delicious Naga cuisine. There is a perception that Nagas only eat meat and its difficult for pure vegetarian travellers to sustain there. However the truth is far from it. Naga food is rich in aroma from assorted greens, roots and herbs. They use exotic vegetables like Bamboo shoot, Colocasia (Arbi leaf), garlicky spring onions called Jyllang, mushroom, local aromatic ginger, local spinach leaf - Mejenga. Naga King Chili is the most spicy chili in the world ! At flower and horticulture show exotic fruits like Dragon fruit, Passion fruit, Kiwi, Rambutan, Khasi Mandarins just blew our taste buds.

Khaziranga was on my bucket list for a while. I had heard and read so much about the endangered single horn rhino. It was fun getting up early in the morning to reach the Kaziranga National park, A UNESCO World Heritage wildlife Site, shrouded in the blanket of mist. Elephants waited patiently to take us to the tall grassland. I ended up on the youngest and smallest one; 16 year old Mohan who insisted on trumpeting for his friend Chameli. We were able to get very close to the rhinos and it was thrilling to see a mother and child pair. There were plenty of swamp deer and the odd heron, which we could trace easily.