A CORRESPONDENT
BOKO: The Garo community’s iconic traditional festival, the 50th Hundred Drums Wangala Festival, will be celebrated with a grand four-day programme from November 11 to 14 at Wangala A’dam, Garo Heritage Village, Chibagre, in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya. The golden jubilee celebration is expected to witness a spectacular display of Garo culture, traditional music, folk dances, and the rhythmic beats of thousands of drums.
Located around 15 km from Tura and approximately 240 km from Guwahati, the festival venue has already been witnessing extensive preparations to welcome participating cultural troupes and visitors from different parts of the country and abroad.
According to Albert Sangma, Protocol Officer of the festival, the arrival of Wangala cultural troupes began on November 7. A 10-km Wangala-thon (marathon) has also been organised as part of the celebrations. On November 10, after the participating troupes assemble at Wangala A’dam in Chibagre, special training and rehearsals will be conducted for the grand thousand-drums performance.
The formal inauguration on November 11 will be attended by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma as the chief guest. The day’s programme will include the release of a souvenir titled ‘Chirongdik,’ prayers, felicitation ceremonies, traditional cultural performances, and a special dance presentation by a Wangala troupe from Karbi Anglong, Assam. A felicitation programme honouring pioneers and former leaders of the Hundred Drums Wangala Cultural Festival Committee (HDWFC) will also be organised.
The second day of the Golden Jubilee celebration, November 12, will witness the participation of Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma as the chief guest. The programme will feature traditional prayers, welcome addresses, the Ruga dance, the Thousand Drums performance, the Rugala ceremony, special dance competitions, indigenous games, and prize distribution.
Meghalaya Governor Chandrashekhar H Vijayashankar will attend the celebrations as the chief guest on November 13.
The grand concluding day on November 14 will feature the arrival of Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as the chief guest.