Thaindian News

Kohima, Dec.20 (ANI): Tourists thronged the annual week-long ‘Hornbill Festival’ that was held here recently.

The festival not only aimed to promote tourism, but also highlighted the socio-cultural panorama of the Nagas.

The annual Hornbill festival is celebrated to pay tribute to the hornbill, the most revered bird of Nagaland.

“It is fantastic and this is not my first time to Nagaland, I stayed at Mon for ten days earlier this year, but being with the Naga people its really special, the sense of community, culture, the rich cultural heritage is absolutely fabulous,” Gopal Merchintani, a visitor from Mumbai.

The eleventh edition of the hornbill festival had a colourful start at Kisana Naga heritage village near Kohima.

“We can see lots of tourist coming here during this festival so if we can promote it, there is always definitely a good chance more tourist will be coming here and as a result economy that is related with the inflow of tourist will grow,” said Akang Ao, a Naga youth.

The weeklong hornbill festival saw many cultural events and innovative competitions with artists performing different types of Naga traditional tribal dances.

A Naga chili eating competition awarded a cash prize of Rs 10,000 to the winner.

“It is really exciting and it is a different culture completely from where I come, it is really nice and I am enjoying here and will come back next time,” Anurya Kanurya, another visitor.

On the last day of the event, a world war peace rally was organized to pay tribute to the heroes who died in the battle of Kohima.

As a part of the rally, 15 vintage war vehicles were flagged off from Dimapur to World War Museum at Kisama village covering a distance of 78 km. (ANI)