Naga New Year festival 2021 to follow COVID-19 restrictions

Kohima: The 2021 Naga New Year festival will be held in the presence of fewer people in the Naga self-administered zone in Sagaing Region on January 15 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The zone comprises Lahe, Leshi and Nanyun townships, which take turns to host the Naga New Year festival, an event that usually attracts crowds of local and foreign travellers. The festival is going to be held at Nanyun from January 14 to 15 with restrictions in place to avoid crowds.

Over 30 ethnic Naga groups live in the self-administered zone, where transportation is difficult because the villages are high in the mountains. These traditional festivals of the Naga vary according to each ethnic group.

The festival usually celebrated in the middle of January, the time after the harvest and before beginning the cultivating activities again. It is a great opportunity to see many kinds of Naga tribes in the festival, colourful traditional dress, dancing and singing, activities and gathering view.

The New Year of the Naga goes on for five days, during the time, they dance, perform, beat their drums, hold the tribal customs until midnight.

The location is not easily accessible due to rough terrain and a lack of modern infrastructure, the tribes of the Naga national group live in the far northwest near the Indian border. Every January, they celebrate their New Year at a festival that brings various Naga tribes together to feast and dance.

For the comfort of guest visitors and tourists, the festival site has western toilets an electric lights as well as catered food, which is transported to the festival site to avoid straining the local resources.

There is no stronger demonstration of the diversity of culture than the Naga New Year festival where different Naga groups with different costumes, traditions and languages come together in one place.

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